Left Behind
by MoonlitxAngel
Summary: Ulrich left to get away from everything to do with Xana. His life spiraled out of control and now he's being sucked back in. Summary sucks. The story is much better. D: YxU? JxA OxSa? Rated T for drug and alcohol usage and other stuff.
1. Prologue: Leaving

_**Prologue: Leaving**_

_** A/N: The apparent winner of my poll! X3 Though, I'm not sure how far this story is going to go, we'll all see what happens, huh? XD Ideas are definitely welcome.**_

_** Onward to the chapter!**_

Ulrich sat Indian-style on Jeremie's bed and looked at his hands. He wasn't sure how to tell them that he was leaving… He knew that it was going to be difficult, but not this bad. It had taken him ten minutes just to stammer out to Aelita that he needed to talk to everyone about something important. He didn't have his normal confidence.

"You can tell us, you know that, right? We won't get mad if you did something that you think is going to hurt us…" Aelita told him, putting a re-assuring hand on his shoulder.

Ulrich took in a deep breath and then began, "Well, since Xana has been attacking less and less lately I decided it was time for me to move on… If I want to get anywhere in the world of soccer then I need to get to an athletic school… So, my dad found a better job opportunity and now we're moving to the United States…"

His friends all began speaking at once.

"It could be a trap placed by Xana, you know."

"Don't think that we only want you here because of Lyoko!"

"Who else am I supposed to pull pranks with and hangout with?"

"Just leave us behind when things get boring? Nice one Ulrich…" Yumi said angrily after the others had quieted down. She stormed out of the room, slamming the door as she left.

"I was offered a full paid scholarship to this boarding school in America that has an amazing athletics program… If I want to be a professional soccer player when I'm out of school I need to get in to a big name school and get scouted. I can't stay here for the rest of my schooldays kicking butt and barely slipping by in school…" he stated looking at his friends' expressions. Odd's was hurt, Jeremie's was of pure anger and hurt, and Aelita's face was one of understanding. At least one of them got it…

(*)(*)(*)(*) A Few Days Later (*)(*)(*)(*)

Ulrich kicked the soccer ball and got it up in the air. He balanced it on his head before dropping it back down to his knee and then to his foot. His dad was due to be here soon and Aelita had promised to see him off. She'd said that she'd try to get Odd to come, but that's the best case scenario. Jeremie and Yumi were still fuming at the news. He turned around to be tackled with a hug.

"We're gonna miss you, buddy," Odd stated as he pulled himself away from the hug and let Aelita hug him.

"Glad to hear it… I made this decision out of faith in you guys… I know you can best Xana even without me…" he stated as rain began to sprinkle down.

Aelita nodded and hugged him tighter. "We're going to miss you…"

"If you ever think of coming back you'll know where to find us. I'll make sure Delmas keeps our room open for you," Odd stated as his dad's car pulled up.

"My dad said we'll be there for at least a year. If his job is decent and he's getting paid well enough, we'll stay. If not, we'll be moving back here," Ulrich stated as he gave the two one last hug and went toward his dad's car. "Bye!"

"Bye!" they both yelled as the car drove off.

"Do you really think we can defeat Xana without him?" Odd asked as they ran back toward the dorm building, neither of them having brought a coat.

Aelita shrugged. She wasn't sure. "We'll see when the time comes, I guess…

For a few weeks everything was quiet… Odd, Kiwi, and Aelita silently mourned Ulrich's leaving and Jeremie and Yumi stayed holed up. Yumi normally stayed at her house and only left for school. She didn't talk to anyone and went straight home after school let out.

Jeremie basically did the same thing, though he sporadically skipped school or a certain class here and there.

For Ulrich, things were going pretty well. He was getting good grades because he could actually pay attention and study and he was getting better and better at soccer and the coach already loved him. It was amazing.

He'd made a few friends, but not many and he was beginning to settle into the way things worked at his new school. He didn't like the bad habits most of the students had picked up, but oh well. He was better than drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol.

Or was he?

_**A/N: Fail of a prologue chapter thing, but oh well. It set the mood and idea of the story. This will probably be short, so don't expect too many chapters. X3**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	2. Here Until the Year Ends

_**Here Until the Year's End**_

_** A/N: Me again! X3 Anyway, this story is going to turn out a bit differently than how it was described on my profile. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

Ulrich panted and kicked the black and white ball that lay in front of him into the goal. It had been a hard match against his own teammates, but his team had prevailed. They always did.

"Alright team, come over here!" the coach yelled as the students either staggered or ran up to the coach, Coach Harris. "That was a good practice. If you guys can't beat our star player then I doubt the other teams could, either."

His teammates cheered as they walked over. They were all glad that the game was over and that they finally got to sit down and drink some water.

Ulrich took a sip from the paper cup held out to him and almost spat it back out and dropped the cup as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Either his old friends were trying to contact him or it was his dad checking in on when Ulrich would be home. He pulled the phone from his pocket and was met with a message from Jeremie that told him to call when he got the chance.

"Now team, we're going up against Sherwood Prep tomorrow and we're going to beat them, aren't we?" the coach asked them as he didn't hold back the excitement in his voice. They never had ever had the chance of beating Sherwood Prep in past years. With Ulrich here it was a going to be an easy victory.

The team cheered and after a few more kind words, they dispersed.

Ulrich walked to the front gates of the school and pulled out his phone. This was the first time they'd stated anything about anything being at his convenience. Aelita and Odd had dropped any contact with him ever since Christmas and it was now early March. He dialed Jeremie's number and held the phone to his ear.

"Ulrich, you have to come back and help us… Xana has Aelita… He's put Odd in the hospital… Yumi's the only fighter I've got left and even she's losing it… I've tried everything… Programs, de-bugging, scanning programs… I even tried to contact Franz Hopper and nothing worked… We're going to lose soon…" Jeremie whispered into the phone.

Ulrich had never heard the blonde sound so broken before… He tried to choke out some sort of apology, but couldn't do it. He ended up hanging up without saying almost anything.

"Hey, we're going to be having a party to celebrate tomorrow's victory after the game. You're invited," a boy said from behind him.

Ulrich turned around and came face to face with a kid he didn't much care for. "I doubt my parents will let me go, Leon."

Leon laughed, the multiple chains decorating his pants jingling along with his laughter. "It's for the entire team when you guys win tomorrow. I can't wait to see the looks on those snobs' faces. Anyway, if you're not there then the team might think that you don't believe in them since I've already asked everyone else to it. What do you think will happen if they don't see their star player cheering at their victory?"

"My guess is that they're going to give up on you. They'll think that you don't think they're good enough for your team," Alice, Leon's girlfriend, stated from beside him.

The two were quite the couple. They both wore black jeans with a chain on either side and a red shirt. Alice's was a deep v-neck. Both wore a black jacket over that and had multiple piercings. Leon's left eyebrow, the right side of his bottom lip, and his left nostril were all three pierced along with piercings running up his left ear. Alice was about the same. She had a stud in her left nostril, one on her right eyebrow, and multiple piercings in both ears.

"I don't hang around with your crowd of people," he stated simply as his dad pulled up to take him home.

"We'll see you there," Alice stated as the two walked away.

"You'd better at least stop by!" Leon called as the two got farther away and laughed.

"What was that about?" his dad asked as he slid his stuff into the car and shut the door.

"Just some weird kids trying to get me to come to some party," he responded in a bored tone. He really didn't feel like talking right now, not after having the phone call from Jeremie and Leon and Alice messing with him.

"You should go. You're only ever out of the house for practice and you seem depressed. You need to have some fun," he stated. His dad sounded uncomfortable.

"Mom put you up to this, didn't she?"

"That's none of your business. Now shut up so I can drive," he stated as he gave Ulrich a sharp look through the rear-view mirror.

"Fine, I'll go," he stated simply before looking out the window with a frown.

"Your mother also said that we're only here until the end of the school year and then we'll go back to France. She said she likes it here and all, but you've turned into too much of a hermit. She thinks you miss your old friends, who I pointed out you barely talk to, and that you need them."

Ulrich shrugged. His old friends were the last people that were on his mind at the moment. Yeah, that may sound heartless of him after the call from Jeremie, but all he wanted was a normal life. He wanted friends and not to have to feel like he had an obligation to saving the world every day.

"If you want you can try to talk your mom out of it, but I doubt it'll do you any good. I tried to get her to listen about us staying, but she said that if I stay you and her are going and I don't want to lose the two of you," he stated, looking out the front window.

This was one of those rare moments where Ulrich's dad surprised him. It showed Ulrich that his dad actually did care about him beyond grades and stuff. He'd basically just said the equivalent of 'I love you' to Ulrich.

"Ulrich, put your stuff away and then we'll have dinner," his mom said when they got home.

"He's going to a party tomorrow. It's after the game and I'm not sure when it's till," his dad told his mom, kissing her cheek.

"It's probably until either eleven or midnight. It's a Friday so the headmaster allows that kind of stuff," he stated as he trudged up the stairs and to his room. He pushed his stuff off into the corner, knowing he'd need it before school tomorrow, and laid on his bed to check his messages.

There were ten straight from either Jeremie or Yumi asking him to call. That there was an emergency that should be brought to his attention.


	3. The Party

_**The Party**_

_**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! X3 I love it when you review, so keep it up! X3**_

Ulrich stretched in the area they were supposed to change in. They'd won the game, but Ulrich had hurt his back in the process. Nothing too serious, just enough to bug him when he moved too much.

"So, are you going to Leon's party later?" one of his teammates, Derek, asked him.

"Probably. My parents want me to get out of the house more and so I might as well," he stated as he laced up his shoes.

"Well, it'll be nice having you there. You're never at any of the parties around school," Derek stated, walking over and patting Ulrich's shoulder before heading toward the door.

Ulrich sat on the metal bench that sat in the room and sighed. He really just wanted to be a normal kid, but after Jeremie's call he was really worried and he couldn't stand it any longer.

He pulled out his phone and called Jeremie.

"Finally decided to call?" Jeremie asked angrily as soon as he picked up the phone.

"If you want me to actually talk to you then I recommend you keep a civil tone," he told him as he stood up and paced.

"Ulrich, we really need your help. Odd is in the hospital right now, there's an activated tower that we can't deactivate because Aelita has gone missing and Yumi is on Lyoko by herself."

"I wouldn't be able to convince my parents to leave right now… My mom said that we can't move until the end the year and that's still months away. She and my dad can't just leave because of their jobs and I can't leave without them. They definitely wouldn't allow it."

"This could be a life or death situation, Ulrich. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, I do, thank you. I was a Lyoko Warrior once, you know. It's not like I didn't notice the return trips happening. It's not like I didn't do my fair share of world saving back then."

"Then why'd you leave us all behind? Do you realize how badly it hurt all of us? Yumi didn't come to school for almost a month, Odd kept pretending like you were here when you weren't, Aelita would try to keep a strong front and ended up crying out of nowhere most days, and I was pretty depressed."

"Quit trying to make me feel bad, Jeremie. Until you can have a conversation with me and not try to blame for things or make me feel bad for my decision don't bother calling," he stated and then shut his phone, ending the call.

(*)(*)(*) At the Party –Just began- (*)(*)(*)

"We're here because one, we all know that I throw the best parties!" Leon yelled to the group of people that had massed in the school's rather large Rec. room.

"And two, to celebrate the soccer team winning against the hardest team to beat!" Alice yelled, punching her fist in the air.

"Now, you guys all wanna know the best part?" Leon yelled, getting screams of yes and what over the music that was blasting through the speakers.

According to Derek this was all just a show and how Leon got people pumped up at the beginning of his parties. Then drugs and beer would be passed around and they all danced the night away.

"There are no adults! The headmaster seems to think that we're all perfect little angels! All the cameras in the room have been taken care of earlier by Alice!" Leon shouted, jumping off the table that he'd been standing on and looping his arm around Alice's waist as different bottles and cans were being brought into the room by various people.

Ulrich wandered around until he spotted Derek.

"Hey, so you decided to come," he said as he took one of the cans off a table. "It's good to loosen up after a game like that."

"It was pretty intense," he said simply, looking around seeing more and more people with either cans, glass bottles, or red cups in their hands.  
"Yeah, I'm waiting on someone to bring in cigarettes. I don't do all the drugs that they pass around, but I do smoke. It makes you feel a lot less stressed."

"Then it's doing its job."

"If you just stand around and dance these parties aren't any fun. You've got to try something different. First party like this I came to I smoked. Tried pot and didn't like it so I didn't do that again. Second party was when I started drinking. I don't get totally wasted, but some people do. Alice and Leon, for example. Most of the time, halfway through their own parties, they end up leaving and they don't show up at school the next day. No one knows where they go off to. Alice is hilarious when she's drunk, though."

Ulrich nodded and squished the toe of his shoe into the floor. He didn't really feel comfortable at this party…

"Try one thing and then leave if you want," Derek stated. He walked over to some guy and came back with a few packs of cigarettes and a couple of lighters. "These are probably as small as you're going to get around anywhere. Like I said, they're good stress relievers and you looked really stressed after the game. Actually, you look like that every day."

Ulrich leaned against the wall, next to Derek, and frowned. "Do I really look that stressed?"

Derek nodded and put one of the cigarettes between his lips and lit the end.

"Isn't all this illegal?" he asked, looking around at all the people drinking and smoking and various other things.

"It's not illegal if you don't get caught, Stern."

Ulrich sighed. He didn't like it when Derek used his last name. It meant that Derek thought that Ulrich was being a baby about things. Derek had told him so.

"Like I said, Ulrich, you should at least try something once. Then you can go if you want," he stated, holding out one of the packs of cigarettes with one sticking out.

That was the first party that Ulrich had been to at that school and it was the beginning of a transformation for Ulrich. He wanted to be a normal teenager and this is what they did. Partied and snuck off. They got drunk and hung-over and he wasn't going to miss it.

_**A/N: Let's all get this straight now. I'm an outcast at my school. Just about no one talks to me and I don't get invited to these kinds of parties, nor would I want to. I've only had sips of wine and such here and there like just about every other kid has gotten from their parents. So, this party was based off one that read about in a book and very loosely. I played around with the idea and needed a way for Ulrich to gain these stereotypical teenager habits. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	4. Transformation

_**Transformation**_

_** A/N: Chapter four! X3 Yay! Okay, so we've got a bit of a time jump. It's near the beginning of the next school year now and Ulrich and his parents are headed to Kadic to get Ulrich enrolled. Now, Ulrich has changed a lot, as you'll see. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

"I'm not a baby. I don't need you breathing down my neck about this shit," he stated as he undid his seatbelt and waited for their complaining to cease.

"Being at that school did nothing good for you. Your hair, for example, is now partially blue," his father stated, looking at him through the rear-view mirror.

Ulrich looked out the window and saw the random splatters of electric blue in his hair. He liked the way it looked. A few months after he'd started smoking Alice and Leon had broken up and a few days later he and Alice had started dating. She'd been the one to dye his hair, pierce his eyebrow; lip; and the upper part of his left ear, and she'd introduced him to beer, wine, and other such drinks. He loved it all, but when his parents had found out they had a spaz fit and took it all.

"I'm just glad you quit all that other crap," his mother stated as she sighed.

He rolled his eyes. His parents were easy to fool. He'd still kept up with the parties and stuff. What they don't know can't hurt 'em, right?

"You'd better behave at this school. Your old friends might do you some good," his dad stated as his parents got out of the car.

He pulled his phone out and saw a message from Alice reading: _I got to the place I'm staying. Text when the parental units are gone and I'll sneak to your room._ The fact that Alice had sneaked away from everything at their old school to stay with him amazed him. She really was pretty amazing.

"Ulrich, get out of the car," his dad ordered.

"Don't bitch at me. I'll get out when I'm damn good and ready," he stated as he messed with the ring on his lip. He was a small bit nervous about how everyone at Kadic would react to his transformation. No doubt they'd all have spaz fits and bitch fests like his parents.

-Aelita-

"Jeremie, we're going to be alright…" she whispered from his bed as she looked at the depressed teen. He'd been lying curled in his bed for a few days now.

Aelita was glad that Xana had given them a break. They could really use it… Without Sissi's help they probably wouldn't have made it these past few times.

"He's going to win… We're too overwhelmed… I don't know how he got to be so strong so fast…" he whispered from underneath the covers.

"Odd's going to be back today and we're lucky for that. We're lucky for everything that's happened to us so far and right now we're going to need that luck to save us. It's going to work…" she whispered, placing her hand on his shoulder in a reassuring way.

"I don't know… With Yumi off in Japan for awhile we're going to be cutting it pretty thin…" he said shifting his position.

"Do you want me to try calling Ulrich?" she asked softly. She knew that the subject of Ulrich was a touchy subject with him…

"He wouldn't do it… He wouldn't help and you know it…" he whispered as the door creaked open.

"Two nerds in love, how sweet…" the girl at the door said.

Aelita hadn't seen anyone around Kadic that looked like this girl before. She wore a low-cut shirt and a mini-skirt with some sleek black boots. Her brown hair was tied back into a braid, falling to the small of her back with her side cut bangs hanging just barely into emerald colored eyes. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Just wanted to see your faces," she stated as she walked in. "I hadn't realized how much he's changed compared to you two."

"Who?" Aelita asked hotly. She knew that this could be Xana playing some trick.

"Ulrich of course," she stated simply as she walked back toward the door and grabbed the knob. "Oh, you might want to know he's back."

-Ulrich-

Ulrich looked straight at the principal and nodded. "I'm not doing any of that stuff anymore."

Mr. Delmas sighed and rubbed his temples. "I'll allow him back in if he stays out of trouble. He'll get two chances."

"Thank you Mr. Delmas. Don't hesitate to call if you need to," his mom stated as he got up and stretched.

"So, what room am I in?" he asked, looking down at Mr. Delmas.

"You'll be in the room that you shared with Della Robbia. He insisted that we keep it open," he stated.

"Definitely sounds like Odd…" he mumbled as he turned toward the door. "Is he back from break yet?"

"Not yet, but he should be back today," he stated.

Ulrich nodded and left the office, wandering the halls for awhile before finally deciding to go to his dorm.

"Hey baby, I found out where your room was," Alice stated, hugging him then kissing him once he'd walked in.

"Where are you staying?" he asked with a small smile.

"Some of my cousins live around here and I'll be staying with them. They don't know I've run away yet and I doubt anyone except for Leon'll notice. My mom's probably high and my dad's probably off screwing someone," she said softly as she sat down on Odd's bed.

"Well, I'm hoping that the kid I'm boarding with doesn't mind you being in here at times," he said as he looked out the window. He hated to admit it, but he'd kind of missed Kadic.

"Yeah, it sucks that you had to board with someone," she scoffed as she came to sit next to him and leaned against his arm.

"It depends. If he doesn't spaz, bitch, and otherwise complain about you being in here at times," he stated kissing her forehead as the door opened. "Speak of the devil."

"When Delmas told me you changed he didn't explain how much… Wow," Odd stated as he sat his stuff on his bed. "Who's she?"

"My girlfriend, Alice," he stated looking at and then kissing her.

"I see… Well, Jeremie said that he needed me so I'm going to go. I'll probably be back in a few hours to unpack," he told Ulrich as he made his way to the door.

Ulrich nodded and smiled as the door closed.

-Jeremie-

"They may be hope, but there may not be, Aelita… Without Yumi we've only got you, Odd, and Sissi on Lyoko since William is still trapped there. Sissi isn't as good as Yumi or Ulrich so it's basically you and Odd by yourselves," he stated as he tried to pull the covers over his head again and was met by Aelita's forceful grasp.

"Stop talking like that. You know that we'll make it through. With the information my father has been able to give to us we may still make it," she stated as Odd entered the room.

"Yumi called me yesterday and said she'd be back in a few days. I told her how much we missed her and stuff," he told the two as he sat down in Jeremie's computer chair. "Did you guys hear that Ulrich's back?"

"I don't want to talk about him right now, Odd," Jeremie said through nearly clenched teeth. What did Odd expect? For them to be able to welcome him back without thinking about it? Jeremie hated Ulrich for leaving them.

"He's totally different! I mean, I doubt Yumi would even recognize him. He's got electric blue coloring in his hair all splattered and he's got earrings, a lip ring, and some girlfriend that wears way too little clothing. I won't be surprised if when she gets caught she'll be in huge trouble for dressing like that," he stated, ignoring the genius's earlier statement.

"Odd, would you please not talk about him in front of Jeremie?" she asked sweetly, knocking Odd's feet off the bed.

"Fine, fine… So what's new?" he asked leaning forward since he couldn't stretch out.

"Well, Xana hasn't really attacked which could be good and bad and Jeremie's gotten all depressed on us," she stated, looking toward him again.

Jeremie tried again to get his covers as his laptop beeped.

_**A/N: Well, not too bad a chapter for Ulrich. Just some minor cussing. XD Anyway, next chapter'll show us what the beeping computer is about and maybe a bit of badboy Ulrich again. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	5. Commander Jeremie Random

_**Commander Jeremie**_

_** A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated these past two days! I had this stupid paper due in Earth and Space class. XD It was due today, so yeah. I hadn't even started on it. XD Got it finished last night, though. X3 Anyway, thank you all for your reviews, favorites, and alerts! X3**_

_** To the story!**_

Ulrich leaned in and kissed Alice's forehead before standing up and pressing his ear to the door. "I don't hear anyone out there… We should go hang-out at your cousin's place so neither of us get caught doing anything."

"I'm assuming your parents told Mr. Principal No-fun about your party 'past'?" she asked as she crossed the room and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I've got two warnings and then he'll kick me out the third time I'm caught, so if we're not here then he can't say anything," he stated as footsteps echoed through the hallway. "Hide!" he hissed, spinning around to look at her.

Alice stood up and quickly got herself hidden, unnoticeable unless you looked really closely.

Ulrich hastily laid down on the bed, staring off up at the ceiling.

The door opened and his mom entered, followed closely by his father. Neither looked very happy.

"Ulrich, you better behave, understand?" his mother asked as she walked over and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah, quit telling me that. I'm not a baby," he stated as he sat up and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Ulrich, we worry about you. You're hardly recognizable from who you were a year ago. We don't want you to end up like so many teenagers and die or get an incurable disease or cancer from everything that you did… Principal Delmas said that if you ever needed someone to talk to the school councilor and psychiatrists doors are always open. You can always call us and if you get back into that stuff again and we find out-" she warned before Ulrich interrupted.

"I'm going straight to rehab. I _know_ you and Dad repeat all this stuff like I can't remember anything," he stated as he laid himself back down and looked over at his dad.

"It's just because we care about you, Ulrich," she said, kissing his forehead and then standing next to his dad. "We'll come back and visit soon."

He waved as the two left and then got up and pressed his ear against the door. "All's clear, Alice."

-Odd-

He made his way across the room and opened Jeremie's laptop to be met with a message. "Aelita, Franz wants to talk to you about something…"

Aelita took Jeremie's blanket across the room to his computer with her as she stood up.

"Jeremie, you're going to have to get out of bed soon," Odd stated, taking over Aelita's spot on the bed as she typed.

Jeremie shook his head and reached for the covers that were no longer at the foot of his bed.

"Your brain and our luck is the reason that we're all still alive. I'll talk to you-know-who, if you want. He's back and in my room so he might listen… Just stop acting like this and help or we're going to lose, Jeremie. We're going to end up dead because you wouldn't get out of bed," he stated, forcing the other blonde to sit up and placing his glasses on his face.

"If you stop poking fun at me then I'll get up," he stated as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"We'll see after you get a shower…" Odd stated.

"I'm sorry to say this, Jeremie, but you stink nearly as bad as Odd's feet. And that's saying something," Aelita said softly.

Jeremie sighed and nodded. "I'll go get one now, but you two had better not sit in here and not do anything. Odd, help where you can. Aelita, please work on some of those programs when you're finished. Oh, and if Sissi comes in tell her that I'm running combat training in three hours so she'd better be prepared."

Odd sighed as Jeremie left. "Commander Jeremie is back in action." He let himself fall back on the bed looked up at the ceiling.

"At least he's up, Odd. Would you rather he stayed in bed depressed until we all ended up losing to Xana and dying?" Aelita asked as she spun around in the chair and looked over at him.

He sprung back up and shook his head. "I'll go find Sissi and tell her what he said and then I'll talk to Ulrich."

"Thanks…" she said with a smile. She seemed glad that Odd was taking some of the workload off of her.

"I'll bring Sissi in here so that she doesn't try to run. You can put her to some sort of work, can't you?" he asked raising an eyebrow as he made his way to the door.

"I'll find something for her to do. Even if I just have her sit on Jeremie's bed or the floor reading one of her magazines while I work like we did the other day at the factory when I tried to run Jeremie's training program," she stated, spinning the chair to face the computer again.

-Ulrich-

"You'd better get going…" he told Alice as it got closer and closer to dinner time.

"You'll have to ask that roommate of yours if he minds my being here," she stated as she walked toward the door and listened. "Then maybe sometimes I can stay over the night as long as we're sure they're not checking rooms."

He nodded as Alice's eyes widened and she retreated into her hiding spot.

Seconds later the door swung open and Odd entered. "Hey."

Ulrich nodded and looked over at Alice's hiding place. She was decently hidden, but if Odd got too close he'd notice her for sure…

"So listen, we need to talk," he stated as he took a seat on his bed.

"You sound like my mom last month…" he muttered as he sat so that he was facing Odd with his back against the wall. "I think you'd like to know that Alice is hiding in here before you start talking."

Alice slipped out of her hiding spot and waved slightly before moving over to Ulrich and kissing him. "I'm going now. Tomorrow's Sunday so I'll be back when I get up."

He nodded and watched her leaving, seeing out of the corner of his eye that Odd was watching too.

A few seconds later Odd began talking again, "I'm not going to beat around the bush, but what caused this transformation in you? You used to love sports. I'm assuming you got kicked off the team with all the drugs and drinking and stuff."

He nodded and looked up at the ceiling. He didn't even feel bad about being kicked off the soccer team, thinking back on it. It had been three months into his and Alice dating and back when she'd introduced him to pot. He'd forgotten about practice and gotten high beforehand. That's what it was…

"You going to answer or just stare at the dust?" he asked, leaning forward.

_**A/N: X_X Ending spot sucked, but I didn't wanna type this while I was half-asleep. XD Listening to music only keeps you up so long. XD though, now I can read some Pandora Hearts and that gets me fangirling and… Ahh… I'd be going on forever and ever if I told you that story… XD (333 Oz and Gilbert. X3) Again, sorry for not updating earlier than this! I should be able to update tomorrow/today, though. X3**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	6. Stuff Happens

_**Stuff Happens**_

_** A/N: I would've put Shit Happens for the title, but I didn't feel like it. XD Anyway, thank you all for reviewing and not hating me for not updating. X3 Oh, and when there was there '333' in the author note last time it was supposed to have the less than sign before it for a heart, but it doesn't keep that -3-.**_

_** Onto the story!**_

"I'm not staring at the dust," he scoffed. "I'm trying to figure out how to answer your question."

"Is it really that difficult to tell me what caused all this? What changed my good old samurai buddy into a druggy alcoholic?" Odd asked as he stood up and began searching around the room for something.

"So where's Kiwi?" Ulrich asked trying to change the subject.

Odd froze for a second and continued searching as if Ulrich hadn't said a word.

"Can't you tell that I'm actually trying to hold a conversation while I think?" he asked as he sat up.

"Talk about something else, then. Not about Kiwi…" he said as he stopped again and looked out the window as if remembering something.

-Odd-

He stared out the window as he tried to hide the tears sitting on his eyes from Ulrich. He didn't want him to know… He didn't have the right to know… He'd been the one that left and didn't care enough to even call or keep in touch and after they'd tried to reach him… Odd had held his phone and tried to call Ulrich so many times, but he'd ended up chickening out and putting it away before rushing to the Factory… Back then that's all they had time to do… So many return trips just so they didn't get kicked out of school, but Jeremie couldn't have run that one…

"Odd, did you hear me?" Ulrich asked.

Odd took a deep breath and blinked his eyes, trying to clear the tears before turning around and facing Ulrich. "Sorry, I was thinking about something else. What did you say?"

"I said I guess that you could say that moving to America caused it. Which could be pointing fingers at both the school that I went to and my parents for pushing me to go," he stated as he laid back down and looked up at the ceiling.

"What about not wanting to fight Xana anymore? Being the hero used to mean a lot to you. Being able to fight for something that no one else could know about, what happened to that?" he asked as he began his search again. He didn't really know what he was looking for…

"I got tired of the same old routine… You know how hard my dad was and is on me. He kept badgering me about that school and bitching about my grade, Odd. Who was I to keep him from that job opportunity anyway? And as everything happened I guess I began to care less and less about that shit. None of us are little kids and being the hero isn't always the best thing."

"Being the hero may not be the best, but being the hero is what's right, Ulrich! Aelita, Yumi, Jeremie, Sissi, and I have given up a lot to be the heroes that other people can't be! There are only so many of us that can fight Xana! There are only so many that could deal with that! I was in the hospital, Yumi was almost thrown off the school's roof, Sissi was almost killed by a bear, and even Jeremie got over his fear and went to Lyoko once or twice to help us when it had gotten to be too much! Each of us has given something up to do this. We all give up our sense of security, knowing that Xana may try to attack us in the middle of the night, while everyone else in the school is sleeping securely knowing nothing of the danger…" Odd stated. He'd begun getting increasingly angrier and by the end had calmed down considerably…

"We all have problems we're dealing with. Not just you guys," Ulrich stated as he stood up.

"Oh, what's your biggest problem? Sneaking your girlfriend in and out?"

"Mine? They aren't your business, Odd," he stated as he clenched his fists.

Odd realized he seemed to have touched a nerve and backed off a bit before saying, "Ulrich, we need your help again… William is still Xana's slave and the last time Xana attacked Yumi almost didn't make it out alive…" he whispered. _He did a return for her, but not for Kiwi…_

"What makes you think that I would, Odd?" he asked as he sat back down and took a deep breath.

Odd hoped that he was trying to calm himself down and then replied, "I know that my best friend is in there somewhere and I'm bound and determined to bring him back."

"Shit happens and people change, Odd," he said as he laid back down.

-Ulrich-

He really didn't want to continue this conversation with Odd. He knew that Odd was right, but wasn't going to admit it. He liked being the way he was and if Odd couldn't handle it he could suck it up and deal.

"Fine Ulrich, I hope you like seeing our dead bodies and knowing it's your fault," Odd stated in a last attempt to get Ulrich to react. When he didn't Odd stormed out of the room and left Ulrich to brood.

-Sissi-

"Aelita, how much has he changed?" she asked, looking up from the magazine that she was reading to see the pink haired girl looking down at her.

"So far the only one to see him has been Odd. He says that Ulrich has electric blue coloring in his hair and that his eyebrow, lip, and the upper part of his left ear are all pierced and that he's on drugs and drinking alcohol," Aelita told her as she took a quick look at the computer screen and then back to Sissi.

"I just hope that we can eventually get through to him…" she whispered as she glanced back at her magazine. Suddenly she'd lost interest. "Aelita?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you think that Odd is still mad at Jeremie?" she asked as she placed her magazine on the floor beside her and crossed the room to Jeremie's bed and sat.

"I don't know… With the way he acts I wouldn't think so, but you never know with Odd."

"I bet he really hates that we couldn't find Kiwi…" she whispered as she stared up at the ceiling.

"I'm just glad that Odd made it out of that attack alive. That's what we need to be focused on… Right now it's survival against saving pets… I hate to say it, but that's the truth… I'm just glad that you were able to join us and have changed so much since."

Sissi nodded and continued staring off into space, trying to imagine Ulrich as one of those kids like how Aelita had described.

All of a sudden two things happened at once. Odd burst into the room and basically slammed himself onto Jeremie's bed and leaned against the wall and Jeremie's computer began to beep. A Xana attack for real this time.

All three teens panicked as they began to smell smoke…

_**A/N: Good place to stop for tonight! *stretches and yawns a little* XD I'm really not all that tired… P: XD Anyway, don't hate me yet! D= I know some of you will about the Kiwi thing. And don't worry, events of that day will be spread throughout the next few days in flashbacks. =3**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	7. Fire!

_**Fire!**_

_** A/N: Commence the reconstruction of my brain… Ding! XD Sorry! My brain basically died today. -_-" I have no idea why. I just couldn't think. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

__"I'm not the only one that smells that, right…?" Odd asked as he turned toward Aelita and Sissi.

"No Odd, our noses work fine," Sissi snapped as she got up, crossed the room, and opened the door. She was greeted by people yelling and running down the hallway as a wall of flames raced toward them. She quickly slammed the door and looked back at the other two.

"Let's go out the window," Aelita stated as she collected up various things she knew that they'd need.

Odd nodded and pushed things out of the way so that the teens could reach the window. "You know, this is going to be difficult from this floor and keep from breaking something, right?"

"Start throwing Jeremie's clothes and blankets out the window to cushion our fall," Sissi stated as she started collecting different shirts and throwing them out the window.

"I just hope Jeremie's alright…" Aelita whispered a few seconds later as they climbed out the window.

-Ulrich-

He grumbled as he got up and opened his door.

"Hey, a fire started and everyone needs to get out, c'mon!" Alice shouted as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out the doorway. "It hasn't gotten this far yet, but it's bound to catch up soon!"

"Why're you still here and how do you know about it?" he asked as they ran.

"I stayed behind to get some food because my cousins don't have anything I like. And I heard people screaming about it and then I came to get you," she stated calmly as if nothing were happening.

"So where are we going to go once we get out the school?"

"To my cousin's house. We'll stay there and you can call Delmas and then say you're staying over because your family was worried and wanted you there," she stated simply.

Ulrich shrugged and continued to follow her. No matter how much he didn't want to let him mind wonder to the thought, he couldn't help but wonder if this was Xana and if Odd, Aelita, Jeremie, and Yumi were alright…

-Aelita-

"Odd, keep up!" she shouted as they made their way above the sea of monsters that now sat upon the terrain of Lyoko.

"It's not my fault the monsters shot at me!" he shouted back.

Everyone tempers were rising and it was getting to be very difficult to keep a straight head without blowing off anger on someone else.

"We're all doing the best that we can and it's still not good enough!" Sissi shouted from behind Aelita on the Overwing. "At this rate we'll be de-virtualized _again _before we get to the tower!"

"Stop being a Debby-Downer!" Odd shouted as she caught up with the two. "We're going to make it there and you know it! It can't be that much farther!"

"Odd, you're optimism is really bringing me down…" Aelita stated looking back to make sure that Sissi was still alright behind her before turning toward the front. (a/n: Use your imagination on Sissi's outfit, 'kay? I've not idea. XD Umm… You'll see her weapon. P: )

"I hope that Jeremie shows up soon…" Sissi whispered as she threw her baton-looking weapon down. A white light surrounded it and her as she used her telepathy (a/n: thanks to flyboy961 for this idea. =3) to steer it around to destroy some of the monsters below the teens. "If Jeremie shows up we've got a chance."

"I think that we can do it without Einstein for once," Odd stated as he shot off some arrows, trying to clear up the sea of monsters as they shot back at the three.

"I disagree, but we'll see," Aelita stated as the Overwing was jerked to the side by Odd as a laser shot where she had just been.

"Where would you be without me?" he asked cracking a smile.

Aelita sometimes liked Odd's optimism, but at the moment it was bothering her. How could he still smile and joke around when the fate of many of the students at Kadic rest on their shoulder? Even without Ulrich it was hard, but now that they didn't have Jeremie steering them in the right direction or Yumi to help she was beginning to lose hope.

"Don't worry, Princess, I have a feeling we're almost there," Odd stated as he pointed ahead of them where a circular clearing in the monsters was and three megatanks stood guarding one of the towers of Lyoko.

"Yes, and then we have to deal with those three," she stated as they got closer and closer. She looked below them and noticed that the monsters had stopped firing and were more focused a ways behind the teens.

"What do you think is going on back there?" Sissi asked as she caught her baton and tried to see.

"I don't know, but it's probably nothing good…" Odd told her in a serious tone as he seemed to strain to see.

"Focus ahead of us, guys. We need to make sure that we get there and defeat those megatanks so that we can stop that fire, remember?" she asked, tapping Sissi on the shoulder and pointing to the closest megatank. "Think that you can hit that?"

Sissi bit her lip and after a second nodded, throwing her baton forward and then using her telepathy to steer it quickly toward one of the megatanks. Once it almost got close enough to hit the monster a laser hit Sissi's baton and sent it flying back at them. Sissi quickly regained control and caught it before it caused damage. "Nope, can't do it that way…"

"We're still not close enough for me to get anything through and we all know that Aelita's energy fields have been a little unstable lately," Odd stated as he held up his arm, ready to aim forward for when they got close enough.

"Well, I'll try again once we're closer," Sissi stated as they began to gain on the megatanks.

"We can do it, guys," Odd stated as they got near enough for him to fire. As soon as he shot off his laser arrow all three megatanks closed, causing it to bounce off their metal-like exterior.

"That's just great Odd. We can do it, but none of us can hit them," Aelita stated irritably.

"We don't have to hit them. If I can get their attention and lead them off then you've got a clear shot at the tower for a few seconds. I assume they'll figure it out pretty quickly," Odd stated as they began to swerve away from the monsters to strategize.

"Sounds like your last plan where you decided I'd just jump off the back of the Overboard and into the tower while you used your body and Sissi's as a shield," she stated. She'd have her hands on her hips if she weren't steering.

"It worked, didn't it?" he asked in a smart-aleck tone.

"Yes, but it left you and Sissi sore," she stated matter-of-factly.

"We don't have time to argue! I'll distract them on foot," Sissi stated as she jumped off the back of the Overwing and ran up to the monsters. "Hey!"

"Well, she's got some guts…" Odd stated as he followed her lead and rode down to her on the Overboard. "I'm helping."

Aelita shook her head and watched the two as they tried to get the megatanks to budge.

-Yumi-

"Jeremie, this isn't anything to be taking lightly! I'll try to get there, but I can't make any promises. We're still at the airport and Hiroki has to go to the bathroom," she stated into her phone as she looked over toward her parents and gave them a small smile before looking away again. "I doubt that my parents were called considering I'm not there, so they don't know."

"Yeah, I'm out of the school, but I'm not sure about everyone else. I assume they made it out alive and are at the Factory, but I'm lucky to have gotten away and been able to call you. The principal has everyone on lockdown and isn't letting anyone get too far so that he can make sure who's out and who's still inside," Jeremie told her.

She could hear the fire truck sirens blaring in the background. "They'll be okay and the school won't burn down… I'm assuming that we're going to be forced to run a return trip?"

"Yeah… Try to get there. I've got to go," he said quickly and hung up.

_**A/N: Not the best place to end, but it's the ending. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	8. Fire! part 2

_**Fire! (part two)**_

_** A/N: Not much to say here… XD I was almost hit by a tornado! But it landed a few cities away, so we're safe! X3 I feel bad for those people though…**_

_** Anyway, enough of that! To the story!**_

"Odd, focus!" Aelita shouted as she circled the tower. She knew that his plan wasn't going to work and that they'd end up like this, but did either of them listen to her? No, they hadn't.

"It's kind of hard with you yelling at me!" he yelled back as he shot off three arrows, finally taking down one of the three megatanks. "Ha! Take that!"

"Odd, focus!" both girls screamed to him as Sissi just barely dodged one of the megatanks rolling at her and was able to hit it as it opened.

"Two down, one to go! Whoever is back there taking care of the other horde of monsters is good in my book!" Aelita exclaimed as she continued circling the two.

-Yumi-

"Honey, are you that ready to get home or is something bothering you?" her dad asked as she repeatedly tapped her foot, trying to keep her mind off what may or may not be happening to her friends.

"Just anticipation. We've been gone for a while now," she stated as she continued tapping.

"Well, you'll be back at school tomorrow with your friends, so don't worry, dear," her mom told her calmly looking back at her and smiling.

Yumi wished that she could just be calm and that this was just jitters over school, but they weren't. Odd, Aelita, and Sissi were alone on Lyoko and Sissi still wasn't the best fighter. Yumi had to admit that Sissi's offense had improved dramatically, but Sissi still couldn't dodge many lasers. That had been field tested multiple times. Granted, she dodged more than Jeremie had ever dodged…

"Yumi, your phone is going off," Hiroki stated, not taking his eyes off the game that he was playing.

"I am utterly shocked…" came Jeremie's whisper of a voice over her phone.

"How come? What happened?" she asked hurriedly, hoping that no one else would notice her.

"Well, they deactivated the tower for one, so I'm going to be running the return trip soon. Also, they were able to defeat all the monsters guarding the tower without help and all three stayed virtualized, though there was someone else on Lyoko… Aelita said she'd look who later," he told her, a small smile to his voice.

"We'll have to remind her tomorrow," she stated as they pulled into the driveway.

"Yeah, anyway, it should happen soon, so see you," Jeremie said as time rewound itself. (A/N: That's all I can think of to describe it at the moment. XD)

(*)(*)(*)(*) Earlier That Day (*)(*)(*)(*)

"He did that on purpose," Ulrich stated as he sat up and waited for his body to catch up with his mind.

"Probably. He knows that even though we did it on our own this time we still need you. Not to mention we wouldn't have been able to do it if that mysterious person hadn't shown up on Lyoko to hold back the other monsters…" Odd stated as he crossed the room to the desk and began looking out the window. "I have to go talk to Jeremie."

Ulrich watched as the blonde left and followed suit, going to catch up to Alice.

"Hey, let's go do something in town," she stated as he walked up. "I've got someone that I need to get some stuff from anyway."

"I could definitely use the break," he stated as he looped his arm around her waist and kissed as they walked out of the school.

-Odd-

"Jeremie, this isn't fair! You did a return trip when Yumi got hurt and when Sissi was dragged into the woods, so why not when I was in the hospital and Kiwi disappeared?" he shouted at the other blonde.

"Do you want Xana to get that much stronger? We can't do it for every little thing and if Delmas had gotten word of the wolves, which he would have, we would have lost one of our ways to the Factory. Kiwi'll find his way back home," Jeremie stated as he typed on the computer.

Odd slumped onto Jeremie bed and held his head… He couldn't stop the memories that were flooding back into his mind…

_**Flashback**_

_** "Come on, Odd!" Aelita shouted over the roaring wind that had begun outside.**_

_** "I can't leave Kiwi!" he shouted as he held onto the small dog that had followed the five outside when they'd decided to go the Factory because of the attack.**_

_** "Odd!" Yumi shouted as Odd ran as fast as he could toward his friends, holding the small dog like one would a football.**_

_** "You can make it!" Aelita shouted encouragingly as the wind howled.**_

_** Odd could tell that the wind didn't very much like that he was getting himself safely to the woods as it decided at that point to pick up and Odd was thrown against a tree. His arms went limp and Kiwi was pushed away from him by the wind…**_

__"So my becoming almost paralyzed doesn't matter to you, Jeremie, is that it?" he asked as he left the room, leaving the genius to think.

(*)(*)(*)(*) The Next Day – A bit before class (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Ulrich-

"Ulrich, you're going to be late!" Odd shouted at Ulrich through his phone.

"I'll get back there when I feel like, Odd," he stated as he watched Alice and some other dude she called 'Boomer' skipping down the alleyway singing some song that Ulrich didn't know.

"You can't be late!" he shouted again.

Ulrich began distracted by Alice and the other guy and laughed when Boomer fell over a trashcan.

"Where are you?" Odd asked, now with a suspicious tone.

Ulrich laughed some more and shook his head. "Odd, you're really dumb, y'know that? It's still nighttime!"

"No it isn't!" Odd shouted as Alice attempted to dance and fell over into the dumpster.

Ulrich doubled over laughing, dropping his phone in the process.

-Odd-

"Ulrich! C'mon, answer me!" he shouted as he slipped his shirt on.

"Odd, what are you yelling about?" Aelita asked as she opened the door.

"Ulrich left after I did to talk to Jeremie yesterday and he hasn't come back. I called him since school starts in less than an hour, but he said it was nighttime and was laughing really loud and then the line went dead," he explained quickly as he began looking around the room for some clue as to where the brunette was.

"Let's go search close by places in town. We might find him," she stated, placing her hand on Odd's shoulder and then quickly leaving the room.

Odd frowned, but followed her.

_**A/N: Good place to leave off. XD I think that Ulrich'll end up in trouble next chapter and now you've seen one person's view of what happened when Kiwi went missing. You'll see someone else's view sooner or later. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	9. Strike 1

_**Strike 1**_

_** A/N: You can totally guess what's going to happen during the chapter. XD Right? o.o;;;;; XD Not much to say, anyway. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

__"He'd better be happy that I'm bothering to search for him!" Odd grumbled as him and Aelita walked through town searching for him.

"Odd, I'll buy you some doughnuts if you be quiet about missing breakfast," she told him while she looked around the nearby corner and spotted Ulrich holding his phone, its battery, and the back of it.

Odd marched up to Ulrich and snatched his phone from him. "So this is what happened. You realize that school starts in thirty minutes, right?"

"No shit? Damn…" Ulrich whispered looking around. "Alice! Where'd you go?"

"Ulrich, what's the matter with you?" Aelita asked as she walked over and Alice stumbled over laughing.

"Ulrich, Ulrich! You missed it!" She shouted as she pointed over to the dumpster as Boomer popped his head out with a banana on top.

"Ulrich, we have to get to school!" Aelita told him, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Alice.

"He-e-e-ey… I'll see you later, Ulrich!" Alice shouted waving. "In my hiding space!"

Five minutes later Ulrich was being dragged back to school by Odd and Aelita.

"I'm hungry and need some water. My mouth is really dry," Ulrich stated as the three walked.

"We don't have time to stop, sorry Odd," Aelita told him apologetically as they kept walking.

Odd placed his hands behind his head and continued walking, "Don't worry about it. I'll get something off Jeremie before classes start if we get there fast enough."

"Hey! Hey, Aelita, didja fix my phone?" Ulrich asked, walking backwards in front of her.

"Yes, and I'll give it back to you later," she told him as she got him to spin around and walk straight forward.

"No one is going to be happy about this…" Odd whispered as they neared the school's gates.

Ulrich was touching his face and then push out his lip and cocked his head to the side. He looked like he was thinking about something. He stopped abruptly. "Shit! I left my lip ring back there!"

Odd pushed the brunette forward and said, "Text Alice and get her to bring it and leave it in our room and you can get it at lunch."

"How much time for breakfast?" Ulrich asked quickly, walking backwards again.

"Ten minutes," Aelita replied as they neared the cafeteria doors.

"I'm going to grab some food then, I'm starving!" Odd and Ulrich both said as they chased each other, with Ulrich yelling random things out into the air.

"Boys…" Aelita muttered as she walked toward the cafeteria doors.

(*)(*)(*)(*) Cafeteria (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Jeremie-

"Where've you two been?" Jeremie asked as Aelita sat down next to him and Odd raced up to the line.

"Odd wanted to go and try to find you-know-who," she stated as she laid her head on the table.

"Oh," he said shortly and began to eat his food again.

"So is that really Ulrich?" Sissi asked, tapping Aelita's arm from across the table.

Aelita looked up at her and nodded. "That's Ulrich."

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Odd asked as he sat down.

"Someone hacked the supercomputer and saved you guys yesterday, remember? We were all going to go to the Factory this morning and see who it was?" Jeremie asked, looking over at the other blonde with a frown.

"Then you two didn't show up and I got hungry so we came here," Sissi stated as she watched Ulrich sit by himself and nearly stumble over the trashcan on his way to the empty table.

"He's high," Odd explained before she got the chance to ask. "We found him in some alleyway with some guy and his girlfriend, Alice."

"No idea what they were doing, but he was really…" Aelita trailed off as she tried to find the right word.

"Goofy? They kept tripping over stuff and when we got there Ulrich couldn't even figure out how to get the battery back in his phone," Odd explained through mouthfuls of food.

(*)(*)(*)(*) Mrs. Hertz Class -1st period- ^That's my thought anyway. That they have Hertz 1st period^ (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Ulrich-

He laid his down on the desk and let his eyelids slide over his eyes as he tried to fall asleep without the teacher noticing. Of course, it was Mrs. Hertz so she noticed and slapped her ruler down on his desk.

"Sleeping is not allowed in this class. Do you want to fail, Mr. Stern?" Mrs. Hertz asked him.

"Let me sleep," he stated groggily as he shifted his head in his arms and closed his eyes again.

"Don't make me say it again," she told him forcefully.

"Can I go get some water? My mouth is really dry," he asked as he looked up at her.

She looked him over and something seemed to dawn on her. "Mr. Stern, go to the principal's office. It's clear to me that you're high on something."

Ulrich shook his head. "Am not. I told Delmas and my parents that I don't do that crap anymore," he told her, catching himself before saying shit and saying crap instead.

"Your eyes are blood-shot, you're groggy, and I heard from a few students about your escapades in the cafeteria this morning ten minutes before class. Go to the principal's office, Mr. Stern. Now," she told him.

Ulrich stood up and put his stuff in his bag. "Y'know, this class is shit. And you're a piece of shit teacher."

-Odd-

He watched as Ulrich left the room and looked over at Sissi, who pointed at Mrs. Hertz. The look on her face was priceless to a jokester like Odd. She looked surprised and dumbstruck.

"Do you think Mrs. Hertz is going to be alright?" Sissi asked him, she was now seated beside him.

"Not sure. She looks like she's not going to move for awhile…" Odd whispered. He pointed back at Jeremie and Aelita and then added, "They could easily teach the class, though."

"Yeah… Anyway, how did Yumi take the news about Ulrich?" Sissi asked, taking a peek at Mrs. Hertz before she walked back to the board and continued teaching as if nothing had happened.

"She hasn't seen him yet, as far as I know," Odd told her with a slight smile.

"She'll see him soon enough…"

-Ulrich-

He walked as slowly as he could handle while keeping a steady pace and tried not to close his eyes. He looked to his sides just to see what was around and noticed that the scenery hadn't changed much from when he'd been there the year prior. He continued walking and thought that he saw Yumi walking across the area to his right, but he couldn't be sure…

As he approached Delmas's office Jim walked up and looked down at him. "Are you already in trouble?"

Ulrich ignored the larger man, walking into the office.

"Mr. Stern, what are you doing here?" he asked, giving Ulrich an inquiring glance.

Ulrich realized that he had neglected to change clothes this morning and was, then, still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. Not to mention he probably still smelt like the drug he'd smoked. He kept his mouth closed.

"What did you do?" he asked again more gently.

"I was sleeping during class and Mrs. Hertz decided that I was high just because I was being silly this morning and sleeping in her class," he stated simply, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back into the chair. He really wished that he had his lip ring, and then he could mess with it like he did when he was in a situation like this. It helped him think.

"Well, Mr. Stern, you do look like you're high. I've seen very few kids look like you do and not be high on something," he stated as he looked at Ulrich.

Ulrich kept his passive face, but knew that he was caught…

-Yumi-

She couldn't believe that the kid she seen talking to Jim was Ulrich. That couldn't be Ulrich. Had he really changed that much that she couldn't recognize him? The thought of Ulrich being one of those kids that did drugs and got high and drunk was just unimaginable…

_**A/N: So now Yumi knows about Ulrich's transformation and he's already in trouble. XD Better be more careful next time, Ulrich. XD One more time after that and you're kicked out of school. XD Love ya guys! X3**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	10. At Fault

_**At Fault**_

_** A/N: -_-""" Twenty minutes… It took me twenty minutes to come up with that chapter title… D= I feel dumb today. XD Ack! I keep getting distracted! Stupid brain… -3- XD**_

_** To the story!**_

__"It's really stupid how she thinks that just because I'm not the best kid that I'm high. Same for Delmas. It's shit," Ulrich stated, standing in his room with Alice while he tried to put his lip ring in without using a mirror.

"Teachers are dumb as shit. That's why I dropped out," Alice told him coming to sit next to him and kissing his cheek. "Why don't you ditch the rest of the day and we'll go to my cousin's? We can order pizza because one of them got off their ass and got a job."

"Your lazy cousins that got kicked out of the house for not doing anything?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded and laughed. "They realized that I wasn't going to go and get a job and buy them food so they flipped a coin to find out who would end up getting a job."

Ulrich laughed with her and thought about her proposition and then said, "I can't… My parents will kill me if I get kicked out and I need to save the other strike I've got for when I can't take this shit anymore."

She shrugged and then said, "Suit yourself. I'll come by once school lets out and then maybe you can come over. Or you can find it yourself. Either way you'll be happy."

Ulrich waited for her to leave, waited ten seconds to let her get down the hallway so she didn't think he was following, and then left to go to lunch.

When he reached the cafeteria, got his food, and sat down he was joined by Yumi.

"You know you really hurt us when you left," she stated, getting right to the point of coming over unlike Odd and Aelita had or would have done.

"No shit? I would've never guessed with how much you guys have been trying to get me to come back. I mean, it's not like one of you comes over here or talks to me every day to try and get me to talk to you," he stated as he put a bite of food in his mouth. (a/n: No shit is Ulrich's catch phrase. XDD)

"Ulrich, you realize that Xana is winning and sooner or later he's going to kill one or all of us. Every single Lyoko Warrior before and now. That includes you. You've fought against him and I really doubt he's going to just leave you alone. Understand?" she asked with a frown.

"I'm not a dumbass. I understand French, Yumi. Hell, I understand English, too. If Xana were going to try and kill me don't you think he would have tried to already? All he's done so far is attack everyone and he didn't attack me once while I was on my own in America," he stated, refusing to look at her and instead focusing his gaze on his mashed potatoes.

"So you're just going to sit by and watch as Xana kills us all, are you?" she asked, the hurt in her voice evident to him, whether he was looking up or not.

This was what he was trying to avoid. Seeing his old friends again always made a small voice in his head say 'go back and help them. Ditch Alice.' At this moment the stronger voice was the one saying stay with Alice. Even though he was with Alice his heart still beat a little faster at just the sound of Yumi's voice. It nearly ripped in two at the sound of the hurt in Yumi's voice… "That's not the point…"

"Then what is, Ulrich? Enlighten me," she stated firmly, with the hurt still evident.

Ulrich messed with the ring on his lip and began to think. Yes, things on Lyoko were hard for his former friends, but did they really need his help that badly or did they all just want their best friend back? "Yumi, I left Kadic to get away from the Xana shit and-"

"And then you got into drugs and alcohol so your parents dragged you back here. I know. Odd and Aelita told me the story. You've had your break from Xana, Ulrich. We need your help…"

Ulrich bit his lip to try and bite back the response he knew that she wanted to hear. She wanted to hear that he was going to come back to them… He liked the freedom he had now, though… He didn't want to leave that freedom… He decided on an answer in a question and one that he needed an answer to. "There is no 'we'. You need me because William still isn't back. You'd be content if he were here, wouldn't you? You'd have your boyfriend and you wouldn't need me. All you ever did was toy with me, anyway. That's all the both of us ever did. I got sick of all the games."

-Yumi-

She had to admit that the last few things that Ulrich said were true. Back then they had just been playing games with each other, but she wouldn't be content if William was there, whether Ulrich thought so or not. As she quickly thought over all of what Ulrich said she realized something… He was blaming her for his leaving… If that was the case was he saying that she was the reason that he turned out the way he was now? "Ulrich, I-"

"Save it," he stated as he got up and left her alone.

Yumi watched him leave and thought about what he'd said… Was it really her fault that Ulrich had left?

(*)(*)(*)(*) After School (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Ulrich-

"Are you alright?" Alice asked him as they sat in her room at her cousin's. They were alone in the house and it was really warm so, neither had much clothes on. Ulrich was shirtless and wearing shorts and Alice was in a tank top and underwear.

Ulrich stared at his hands and frowned. He knew that he should be standing by his friends and helping them, but he couldn't help but want to be free of that responsibility… He shrugged in response to Alice's question.

"Listen, if it's your old friends then I can go and have a word or two with them," she told him in an impatient tone.

A small smile tugged at the sides of Ulrich's lips and he shook his head. "It's just that there's something that they want me to do and it's a huge responsibility… That's part of the reason that I left Kadic in the first place, was to get away from that responsibility. They think that now that I'm back, against my will, that I'm just going to be all nice and happy and deal with it. I refuse to do that. It's bullshit."

"So basically they can't take care of it themselves and so now are crawling to you for help when you clearly don't want to?"

"That's the gist of it."

Alice sighed and kissed his nose. "Listen, I'll talk to them if you want me to, but for now you and I are going to spend time together and you're going to cheer up, got it?"

Ulrich kissed her back and nodded falling back onto the bed.

_**A/N: We all know what they're doing. XD (I hope… -_-") anyway, so we now know that Yumi thinks that Ulrich blames her for his leaving. XD What shall happen next? Only I shall know! -^- so review to find out. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel (Moony)**_


	11. Jealousy

_**Jealousy's a Bitch**_

_** A/N: XD I like that title and it's very fitting for this chapter. XD So now we've got Yumi thinking that all this is her fault, Ulrich getting increasingly more obstinate, and over problems about to topple on over. XD I have a list. =D**_

_** To the story!**_

___"Ulrich!" Yumi shouted to him as a monster came up behind her as it shot at her back._

_ "Yumi! Watch out!" he shouted, his voice sounding distant and far off. "Yumi, behind you!"_

_ Yumi acted like she couldn't hear him and then he heard Jeremie's voice. "Yumi, you only have ten life points left and since the computer's all buggy you might not come back here! You might not come back at all!"_

_ "I know, but I can't __see__! You know that, Jeremie! I can barely hear them behind me and now Aelita and Odd are gone and William is still with Xana and Ulrich isn't coming…" she whispered as the monster backed up, getting ready to attack again._

_ "Yumi! I'm right here!" he shouted, trying to get closer to his old crush. Ulrich felt like he was running through a tunnel. His destination getting farther and farther away with each and every step that he took forward…_

-Alice-

She carefully wiped the sweat from Ulrich's brow and contemplated waking him… He'd been tossing and turning and had finally fully woken her up. She almost woke him up when he looked like he was in pain, but stopped when his lips opened a small bit.

"Yumi…" he whispered, his face keeping that pained expression.

Alice bit her bottom lip. Okay, so at her old school she'd definitely been the jealous time. That's what had broken her and Leon up. He kept flirting with other girls and so Alice had dumped him. She decided that she was going to go talk to Yumi. Ulrich was hers and no one was going to get in the way of that.

Alice puckered her lips in thought as she gathered up her clothes and slipped into them, placing Ulrich's in a neat pile on the end of her bed. Did he really have to be that messy? The clothes were all over the place. Once she finished she scribbled a quick note saying that she'd be back soon and she loved him and lay it on top of his clothes in case he woke up.

She decided to go out the front door so slipped out of her room and down the hall, to the stairs.

"Hey Alice! What was with all the racket last night?" her eldest cousin, Josh (at the age of twenty-seven), yelled at her as he held up a beer.

"Shut up, Josh," she snapped. "He's still sleeping and if you wake him up I'm going to rip off your head."

"Ooh. I'm soooo scared of my little cousin," he jabbed sarcastically.

She stuck her tongue out at him and walked off, out the door and to the street. As she walked she focused all her thoughts on what she could threaten Yumi with and decided upon something that Ulrich had repeatedly let slip. The fact that he and his friends had a secret that could put everyone in danger. The fact that they used to play superhero somehow. She wasn't sure how it worked, but she was going to milk it for all it was worth.

As she neared Yumi's house she picked up a rock. It was light enough to lightly tap the window just enough to wake someone up. She grabbed a few more and decided that they were enough and walked up to the window that she knew was Yumi's. After tossing a few Yumi's head popped out of the window. It was still dark so neither girl could see the other very well, but Alice motioned for Yumi to come down and she knew that the message had gotten through when Yumi left the window and appeared a few minutes later coming toward her.

"What do you want, Alice?" she asked, not holding back the venom in her voice.

"I just wanted to let you know that Ulrich is mine and you'd better stop talking to him. He's not into you anymore, so back off," she told her, standing on her tip-toes so that she was closer to Yumi's height since Yumi was an inch and a half to two inches taller than her.

"Do you really think I'd back down just because you threaten me?" Yumi asked glaring down at her.

"How about if I told you I know your secret? I know about you being superheroes and stuff," she told her, smirking a little bit.

"He told you?" she said through clenched teeth.

"Nah, he talks a lot in his sleep anymore. When I wake up early or he wakes me up with all his tossing and turning I listen to what he says. He's a pretty good story-teller."

Yumi glared daggers at Alice. She shortly nodded and stalked off.

Alice smiled. She was glad that she was able to keep Yumi away from her Ulrich.

-Ulrich-

"Hey, get up!" someone yelled at him.

He mumbled something in response and flipped over to his side.

"Get up! The po-po are coming!" (A/n: No idea if that's how you spell it. What most teens call the police. XD)

Ulrich quickly sat up and looked around to see Alice's youngest cousin, June (at the age of fifteen), standing above him. "Hey, some guy called your phone, which was downstairs by the way, and said that he needed to talk to you and that your parents were apparently coming to the school to check-in. He said he overheard some guy named Jim talking about it."

"Shit! They're going to kill me if I'm gone!" he shouted as he felt around for his clothes. He finally found the pile on the bed, along with the note, and (after shooing June) put his clothes on, shoved the note in his pocket to read later, and headed out.

_**A/N: good place to stop. XD Anyway, I love you all for reading. X3 And reviewing. X3 Anyway, I got Sims 3 yesterday so I'm happy. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	12. Strike 2Or Not

_**Strike 2…Or Not**_

_** A/N: Okay, it's 3:25 in the morning here, okay? So deal with the chapter title if you don't like it. XD I have stuff to do today (including playing Sims 3, talking to Taffy (if you're reading this, which I bet you are, Hi! X3), and reading fanfics that I read on a daily basis. XD It's a lot more complicated than that, trust me. XD Anyway, I'm blabbering. XD Now it's 1:26 in the morning of the next day. XD**_

_** Onto the story!**_

Ulrich ran half the way to the school, trying to avoid anyone seeing him. If people saw him they'd notice his age, at least guess close, and ask why he wasn't in school, juvy, etcetera. He couldn't deal with that, so he stuck to hiding in the trees and shrubs until he neared the school and saw his parents' car driving up to the school.

He cursed himself and hid better, watching his parents walk through the gates and waiting fifteen seconds before moving after he couldn't see them any longer. He dashed into the gates and through the school to his and Odd's room.

"Where were you last night?" Odd asked him as soon as the door closed and Ulrich had spun around.

"I was at Alice's cousin's house because you don't like it when she sleeps here. It's not like we have sex or anything with you in the room," Ulrich stated as he curled up on his bed, kicking his shoes off on to the floor at the end of the bed.

"I'll tell them, y'know," Odd stated a few seconds later.

"Why? I'm two strikes away from juvy, a parole officer, or rehab. Do you want me to never even consider coming back to the Lyoko Warriors? If so, tell on me. Be a tattle-tale," he stated as he looked up at the ceiling. "Go ahead, Odd. See if I give a shit whether you tell. I was in juvy and did fine. I was in rehab and was released. I had a parole officer once, but it didn't last very long on account of "good behavior". So, it's your choice, Odd. Make sure that I never get the chance to maybe change my mind or cover for me. Your move," he stated as the door opened to reveal Mr. Delmas, Ulrich's parents, and Jim.

Odd looked from Ulrich to the visitors.

"Hi Mom. Hi Dad," Ulrich said as he moved again, sitting on the edge of the bed. He knew that his mom would want to sit down.

"You're very close to going to rehab," his dad stated, clearly angry.

"Both your parents have been told of your progress or regression since your return. They know that we found you high," Mr. Delmas stated looking to the brunette.

"Hey, my grades are improving so there should be some sort of congratulations in order," Ulrich stated, eyeing Odd and hoping that he'd lie…

-Odd-

At that moment he was mulling so much stuff over. If he told on Ulrich that'd be a sure-fire way to get rid of him and Alice. Then again, Ulrich might know who that mysterious person on Lyoko was and he might join the Lyoko Warriors again… It was going to be tough.

"Ulrich, your improving grades are nice, but they're still low… Going from an F to a C would be cause for celebration. If you push yourself a small bit harder you could get that C. You have mostly D+'s right now, right?" his mom asked, sitting next to him and hugging him.

He nodded, never letting his gaze slip from Odd for more than a few seconds at a time.

"Mr. Della Robbia, may we ask if he's been leaving the room when he's not supposed to, sneaking out, or otherwise misbehaving?" Mr. Delmas asked as Jim walked off, knowing that he wasn't need anymore.

Odd looked toward Ulrich, being met with a pleading glance from the boy. Odd bit his lip and then said, "Yes."

"Yes what?" Ulrich's dad asked, his anger rising.

"Yes, you can ask that question," Odd replied as he picked up a CD and tossed it to the desk table.

"So, is Mr. Stern behaving himself?" Delmas asked, looking between the two boys.

"Yeah, of course, you've got the occasional misbehaving, but I mean that's normal for every teen and all," Odd stated, trying to make it all sound really convincing.

-Alice-

"Get off your ass and tell me where he went!" Alice screamed in one of her cousin's ears.

"Get off your ass and go check your room, dumbass," one boredly told her as they watched TV.

"Hmph. What help you all are," she stated angrily as she climbed the stairs.

"If you'd checked your room you wouldn't have had to ask!" the same one yelled.

Alice flicked all of them off and went to her room, slamming the door and turning on the lights. "Stupid dumbass cousins…" she mumbled as she walked to the bed and laid down.

-Aelita-

She hugged her knees close to her chest. "Jeremie, we're not going to be able to do it…"

"Why the change of heart? We can still do it, Aelita…" he whispered, coming to sit down next to her on the bed. "You're the one that told me that we could do it… That convinced me that we could do it. We've dealt without him for this long, so what makes you think that we might not be able to win?"

"Just that we haven't really been an actual team since Ulrich left… We've all just began to deal with each other. Really there's you and me, then Yumi, then Odd. The last Xana attack taught me that. We all just started fighting… We couldn't work together and just ended up biting each other's heads off. Ulrich was friends with each of us and we all stayed together because of that…

Jeremie shook his head and hugged her. "We're friends. All of us. Yeah, we don't get along sometimes and the stress gets to us, but we're all friends just the same."

"Kiwi is the only one missing now… Odd really misses him and it's really hurting him, Jeremie… We should go search for him," she stated, as she stood up.

_**A/N: Not the best ending, but don't worry. They'll find Kiwi soon and Ulrich'll end up in trouble again. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~Moony**_


	13. Caught Again

_**Caught Again**_

_** A/N: Review please! X3 I love all of you that are reviewing and would love it even more if the rest of you would review, too. X3**_

_** To the story!**_

__"I really hate how they seem to be lying to you. My cousin's really don't think that you're in love with me at all…" Alice whispered as she snuggled closer to Ulrich on her bed.

"Don't listen to them, then. I love you and you mean a lot to me," he told her, kissing her nose and running his fingers through her hair.

-Odd-

"Jeremie, leave me alone," he stated as he put his CD away. "It's already almost nine and you'll get in trouble if you stay here any longer, anyway."

"Odd, I don't care about getting in trouble right now. Aelita's really worried and so am I," he told him as he crossed the room and sat on Ulrich's bed.

"I don't care, Jeremie. I'm going to look for Kiwi again and you're going to leave me alone," he stated as he slung a backpack on his back and went toward the door.

"Odd, right now I can't think of just one of us. I have to think of everyone in the group. Sissi, Yumi, Aelita, and I really need you just like we all need Ulrich. Our lives are at stake and I know that you hate me because of when we lost Kiwi, but we need to stop Xana," Jeremie told him.

"You can't change my mind, Jeremie. I'm going to see if I can find Kiwi. If you want Ulrich back so bad call him yourself. I've got my phone on me if there's an emergency," he told him as he left the room, leaving Jeremie standing by himself.

-Alice-

"Tomorrow is Sunday, so let's go into town and have some fun with Boomer," she proposed as she kissed his neck.

"That's true… You're really making me want to stay here, though," he said with a small smile, hugging her.

Alice laughed and kissed his nose. "Let's go visit Boomer."

"Do your cousins mind when we leave?" he asked as they stood up and headed toward the door.

"It's nine o'clock. Most, if not all, of them are drunk," she told him as they both went through the door.

-Yumi-

Everything from the past year had been crushing down on her since she'd seen Ulrich. The pain of seeing him leave, the pain that she'd felt for months after he'd left… The pain of almost losing Odd… That had been really hard on all of them…

_**=Flashback=**_

_** "Come on, Odd!" Aelita shouted to the blonde as Yumi watched with worry.**_

_** "I can't leave Kiwi!" he shouted as he held onto the small dog that had followed the five outside when they'd decided to go to the Factory because of the attack.**_

_** "Odd!" Yumi shouted as he ran as fast as he could toward them holding Kiwi like a football.**_

_** "You can make it!" Aelita shouted encouragingly beside her as the wind's howling became louder and louder.**_

_** Yumi's brow furrowed in worry as she watched Odd stumble and almost fall when the wind got fiercer and fiercer. Yumi bit her lip as the wind whipped her hair into her face.**_

_** "Odd! Odd, are you alright?" Aelita yelled, running over to Odd seconds after he'd been knocked, back first, into a tree.**_

_** Yumi followed Aelita and both girls began trying to get Odd to respond.**_

_** "Yumi, call the hospital. I'll call Jeremie and tell him that he'll need to get Sissi to guard the tower so that I can get there. It's gotten a bit more difficult, but she's the only option that we've got," Aelita told her as she looked around for Kiwi. "Did you see where Kiwi ran off to?"**_

_** "He was thrown away from Odd when he was thrown into the tree… I didn't see where he went," she stated as she dialed.**_

_**(*)(*)(*)(*) Awhile Later (*)(*)(*)(*)**_

_** "We can't run a return trip…" Jeremie told Yumi as the four friends sat in the hospital's waiting area. "We can't risk Xana getting any stronger than he is."**_

_** "You know that Odd isn't going to be happy about that…" Sissi stated.**_

_** They all quieted down as a few people passed by and then began talking again.**_

_** "Jeremie, Odd could end up paralyzed, though. Xana caused this and we can't deal with him being paralyzed. He really doesn't deserve to be paralyzed like that nor does he deserve to lose Kiwi…" Aelita said.**_

_** "I agree," Sissi added.**_

_** "We can't risk it," Jeremie stated forcibly.**_

_** All three turned toward Yumi.**_

_**=End Flashback=**_

__Ever since Ulrich had left everything had been going wrong for the team. They'd ended up losing Kiwi, she'd voted that they don't risk it and had had Aelita; Sissi; and Odd mad at her for a few months, and they were losing to Xana.

(*)(*)(*)(*) The Next Morning (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Alice-

Her and Ulrich sat laughing side-by-side as they watch Boomer fighting with a piece of plastic for his foot.

"I know what we can do now!" Ulrich shouted as he got up and stumbled over to the dumpster they were near, leaning over the side to reach into the thing.

Alice giggled as Ulrich walked back over and sat down with a blanket. "And what would that be?"

"Go stalk Odd," he laughed as Boomer fell over and joined them.

"Let's! I love messing with that guy!" she yelled as she stood up quickly and pulled Ulrich to his feet. "C'mon Boomer!"

-Yumi- (half an hour from when we left Ulrich)

She hugged her knees to her chest, her blankets laying over them, and sighed. She really didn't feel like leaving her room today.

"Yumi! Mom and Dad said that you need to come down stairs for breakfast!" Hiroki yelled to her at the same time that her phone rang. "Hello?"

"Yumi, meet us at the Factory," Aelita told her.

"Why, what happened?" she asked as she grabbed some of her clothes.

"Ulrich brought Alice to the school and they were both high and now Odd's really upset. Listen, I'll tell you when you get here because Odd is furious and trying to attack Jeremie," she said quickly and then the line went dead.

_** A/N: And now you're all wondering why Odd is so mad and what Ulrich and Alice did this time, right? XDD Well I'm not telling till next chapter. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	14. That Was Fast

_**That Was Fast**_

_** A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone! X3 I'm only getting three a chapter right now, so if anyone else is reading I'd love to hear from you! X3 I know you're there because you've got the author alert or the story alert. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

__"Mr. Stern, you do realize that your parents were here just yesterday telling you to behave and yet you didn't?" Mr. Delmas asked Ulrich as he and Alice sat in his office. Alice was nearly asleep and he was pretty tired as well.

"So what? Everyone in this room knows that I'll get sent back to rehab one way or another so why prolong it? Why keep fighting something that's inevitably going to happen anyway, no matter what you do?" he asked, thinking about their old fight against Xana. It was inevitable that they'd end up losing against the malevolent computer virus. He'd figured that out a long time ago.

"No, we don't know that you'll be sent back to rehab. Nothing ahead of us is definite. When your parents brought you here you were here with a clean slate. You could have modeled yourself to a perfect student if you'd had the drive. What happened to that boy that loved soccer?"

"He's gone. Addiction is a bitch, huh?" he asked as he stood up and made his way to leave the office.

"Mr. Stern, this was your last warning. Next time we catch you means expulsion," he told the brunette as he left the room, having woken Alice and dragging her with him.

"Stupid adults trying to make sure that we don't get to have any fun," Alice yawned out. "I'm going to head home. Visit later if you feel up to it, 'kay?"

He nodded, gave her a quick kiss, and left toward his and Odd's dorm silently.

-Odd-

"Let go of me!" he shouted at Aelita as he tried to jerk his arms free from her grip with no luck.

"Odd, let me-" Jeremie began, holding up his hands in a 'truce' kind of way.

"No! I hate you, Jeremie! Okay? The only reason I'm in this still is because I'm not going to let Aelita, Yumi, and Sissi down because you can't think of helping me with anything! I was nearly paralyzed! I could have died! The doctor said that I'm lucky I can still walk! I lost the ability to do my favorite thing on Earth! I lost my dog! Do you understand any of that? Were you listening when the doctor was explaining?" he shouted as Yumi entered and joined Aelita's effort to restrain the blonde.

"Of course I do, Odd," Jeremie said. He was refusing to get angry. If he got angry he'd do something that he regretted. Again. "I get that you can't skateboard like you used to. I get that you lost Kiwi. I regret that decision."

"Like hell you do!" Odd shouted, trying harder and harder to break free of the girls' grip.

-Yumi-

"So what happened, Aelita?" Yumi asked as she tightened her grip.

"Ulrich and Alice were high and decided to play a prank on Odd, pretending to be a dog and leading Odd to the woods. After they got caught Odd got mad and came here to try and hurt Jeremie. He's been shouting practically the same things with Jeremie replying with the same things for a bit now before you answered your phone," she explained.

Yumi nodded and, after telling Aelita to let go, flipped Odd onto his back and bent down to his level. "You're not the only one that's lost something in the fight against Xana, y'know. The rest of us have lost plenty. We've lost Ulrich. We've all lost the ability to be normal kids. We all have to sneak around and therefore get in trouble a lot. We all have decided that we give up our lives to keep everyone else safe. Do you realize what this all has done to each of us personally, Odd? Or are you too worried about you to realize that the rest of us are hurting, too. If so, just go now. We don't need someone like that here."

The others looked at her stunned as she let Odd up. He was a bit shaky, but otherwise fine and frowned. "I know that everyone goes through stuff, especially with Xana around. Everyone here has had their lives saved by a return to the past and Kiwi is an honorary member of the gang and should be treated as such. He helped in Xana attacks and he was my best friend once Ulrich left… It's not that I don't care about everyone else, it's that in the course of a year I've lost two of my best friends…" he told her as he walked toward the elevator. "I don't quit. I just need time alone…"

-Ulrich-

He was curled up in his bed, contemplating everything that had happened over the year he was gone… Xana had gotten so much stronger and he could tell that his friends, wait, his ex-friends needed his samurai power… They needed him so that they could defeat Xana… So that they could save the world from Xana's control and he turned a blind eye to all of it… He ignored them and was mean to them and each time it felt like a small piece of his heart was being shattered into a million pieces. He hated doing this to them and it needed to end… Or did it?

(*)(*)(*)(*)The Next Day (*)(*)(*)(*)

"Ulrich, get up. It's almost time for breakfast," Odd said pretty quietly.

Ulrich got up out of bed and looked at Odd. He looked terrible. His shirt was ripped in several places and his pants and hair were matted with mud. "What happened to you?"

"None of your business, is it now?" he snapped as he turned to grab some new clothes.

Ulrich frowned at Odd and looked at his hands… He wanted to apologized, but he didn't know how to say it and Odd seemed really angry… "Odd, I-"

Odd spun around and cut him off. "I get it, Ulrich. You hate us and don't want anything to do with us. Stop reminding me, okay? We'll deal by ourselves and if we die trying then oh well. The world falls to Xana. Like you would care, anyway," he snapped again, storming out the door afterwards.

Ulrich grabbed his phone and called Alice. "I'm telling the teacher I feel sick and I'm sneaking over there. Get the beer and stuff ready 'cause I could sure use it."

"You know it's, like, seven something in the morning, right? Don't you have school?" she asked groggily, clearly she'd just woken up by him calling.

"I don't give a shit anymore. We can go to rehab together and pretend to be good and then runaway somewhere where your family lives and stay together. To hell with school and my parents," he told her as he slipped on his shoes.

"Even though I don't want to go to rehab again let's do it. My cousins are all gone and we'll have the house to ourselves. My cousin won't mind a few missing cans and bottles," she stated. He heard shuffling from the other end and water running. "I'll get everything ready and you get on your way here."

"Yeah, I'm leaving the dorm right now. See ya in a bit… Love you," he told her as he shut his phone and grabbed a jacket, slipping it on as he headed out the door.

_**A/N: Okay, so he felt guilty about it and then he ended up trying to make amends and was pushed off. Now he's decided that since it didn't work once he's going to get into rehab anyway! Good choice, Ulrich! (sarcasm) So, as a treat, I'm going to show a preview of the next chapter! XD**_

_Ulrich looked at his shoes as his old friends all glared at him._

"_Do you realize what you just did?" Yumi yelled, glaring him down. He knew that if looks could kill then he'd be better than dead by now…_

"_How could you be so selfish?" Odd yelled, joining Yumi in glaring at Ulrich._

_Ulrich sat down against the wall and held his head. "I know you're mad, but please stop yelling… I did it because I knew it would get you all here… I thought that maybe you all would hear me out, but I guess I was wrong… Odd wouldn't listen earlier, Jeremie wouldn't listen when I turned to him before I left, and Yumi nearly punched me before left the grounds to meet up with Alice. You want to know what I was going to say? I was going to say that I was sorry for everything. I was going to say that I don't know why I did what I did and that I felt guilty about everything. That I was going to try and stop all the drug abuse and alcohol abuse. You want to know what I'm going to do now? I'm just going to watch you all die. I don't care anymore because you don't care to hear me out," he told them as he stood up and walked toward the elevator, hoping that maybe they'd follow and try to talk with him more. "And don't worry, because once you die I won't be too long after…"_

_** Do remember that this is a rough guess about what's going to happen because I don't have the chapter typed up, but that's the rough idea. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	15. Is That Really You? Part 1

_**Is That Really You…? (Part 1)**_

_** A/N: Alright, the title of this chapter will make sense near the end. XD Hurm… Right now I've gotten two reviews. X3 It's 12:20 and I plan on going to bed here soon, after writing out a bit of this, so I'd better get started. X3 I got most of this done last night and now tonight (day I'm posting. XD) I'll be able to finish. X3**_

_** To the story!**_

Ulrich knew that it shouldn't have been as easy as he thought it would be and contemplated turning back… If he saw any of them he would try again and if that didn't work he'd work his way into rehab… As he walked toward the gates he spotted Jeremie and walked over. "Jeremie, can we talk?"

Jeremie took a deep breath and shook his head. "I've heard enough from you. I've already been yelled at once in the past 24 hours. Don't need to be yelled at twice."

Ulrich watched as he walked off and sat on the small bench Jeremie had occupied. He held his head in his hands and decided that he'd wait a few minutes before leaving… Maybe Odd would change his mind or Aelita would come up…or something. He needed something…

"Ulrich," he heard Yumi said shortly, the anger evident in the tone of her voice.

He looked up and frowned. He knew that she was going to yell at him for whatever Jeremie had been talking about. He could feel it.

"You know you're the worst. First, you leave us alone to face Xana because he'd been quiet. Then, you don't care when Odd gets hurt and Kiwi gets lost. Next, you come back and make our lives a living hell. And finally, you get Odd remembering about how Jeremie didn't do a return to the past for Kiwi and nearly get Jeremie beaten up! Does trouble just follow you anymore?" she yelled, waving her arms angrily.

Ulrich bit his lip. He wanted to apologize, but was afraid of getting interrupted again. "Yumi, please listen-"

"I'm tired of listening to you! Why don't you just go back to America and leave us alone?" she asked him as she looked as if she was going to hit him, thought better of it, and walked off.

Ulrich shook his head. They weren't going to listen to him… They hated his guts now.

-Odd-

Normally he'd have eaten his way through three trays full of food already, but today he didn't feel like eating anything. Or being near Jeremie. He decided to sit by himself and see if any of the others decided to sit with him. He was kind of surprised when Sissi came over and spoke.

"Odd, we all know that you want Kiwi back… I'm sorry that you lost him back then… Everyone should have gone to the Factory sooner… Please Odd, hear me out… I really don't think that Jeremie did it on purpose… Xana gets stronger each time that we run a return trip and when that happens he can attack us more fiercely… If you had lost your ability to walk then Jeremie would have run the return… And I don't think that Ulrich is out of our reach yet… We can still get him back…" she whispered that last part so that only Odd could hear her. If anyone else heard they would probably think that she was with Ulrich in doing that stuff.

"Thanks Sissi, but Ulrich's gone… The guy that's in my dorm, that isn't Ulrich… That's someone else entirely… Ulrich wouldn't give up sports or be mean to his friends… He'd care more about Kiwi than that guy in my dorm does…" Odd whispered as he stared out the window, watching the birds flit by.

"The why not pull Ulrich out of him?" she asked, trying to get Odd to be optimistic again.

"Why bother? It's inevitable. We're going to lose and we're going to die," he stated simply, resting his forehead against his arms so his face was toward the table.

(*)(*)(*)(*) A Few Hours Later (Delmas's Office) (*)(*)(*)(*)

(((A/N: I'm assuming you're wondering why it's in Delmas's office. I'm skipping them being drunk because we've seen that stuff enough. XD)))

"Your parents are on their way right now, Mr. Stern," Principal Delmas told him with a stern look on his face.

"Mr. Delmas, please… I've finally actually started to feel guilty about doing this stuff… Please don't make me leave…" he whispered as he looked down at his hands. Him and Alice had gotten caught in the streets and the police had been told to be on the lookout for Ulrich since he had skipped morning classes.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stern, but I've given you enough chances. You have two hours to pack your things. Your parents are on their way," he stated as Ulrich got up to leave the office.

"Don't be surprised when I'm a homeless kid because of you, Mr. Delmas," he stated as he slammed the office door shut and cursed loudly, then apologized to the secretary.

As he made his way to his and Odd's dorm he came up with a plan to give himself another chance… To draw them all to him so that they'd be forced to listen…

-Aelita-

"Everything is going to be alright, Jeremie," she told him, placing her hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Aelita, I really don't think that Odd is going to get over this any time soon… He's going to hold Kiwi over my head until we find him… And probably long after that… We can't work as a team like this," he told her, leaning against the wall.

"Stay optimistic. Everything will get better, okay?" she asked, looking over at him and resting her head on his shoulder. "We'll make it through this, okay?"

"I guess that when the two of us work together then we're unstoppable. Is that what you were going to say?" he asked, smiling slightly.

Aelita gave a small laugh and nodded. "It worked, though. You're smiling."

"Yeah… Thanks, Aelita," he told whispered as a return to the past was initiated.

(*)(*)(*)(*) At the Factory [Everyone is there] (*)(*)(*)(*)

Ulrich looked at his shoes as his old friends glared down on him.

"Do you realize what you just did, Ulrich?" Yumi yelled, glaring him down. He knew that if looks could kill then he'd be better than dead by now. He'd be burned in a pit and nothing left but ashes.

"How could you be so selfish?" Odd shouted, refusing to call him Ulrich. The person sitting in front of them with his head down was not Ulrich.

Ulrich laid his head back against the wall, closed his eyes, and took in and let out a deep breath. He moved his head to his hands and began to speak. "I know you're mad, but please stop yelling… I did it because I knew it would get all of you here… I thought that maybe you all would hear me out this time, but I guess I was wrong. You're just going to keep yelling at me and calling me trash and you won't let me change, will you? Odd didn't listen this morning and I gave you guys another chance when I tried to talk to Yumi and Jeremie, but that didn't work out. Do you want to know what I was going to tell you or do you guys still not give a shit about me? I was really going to say that I was sorry. That I felt bad about everything that I've done and that I felt guilty about everything. I was going to stop doing drugs and drinking. Now, though, I'll just watch you all die. I don't give a shit anymore. You didn't care to hear me out, so I'm not going to bother caring anymore," he told them as he stood up and walked toward the elevator, hoping that maybe they'd follow him and try to talk to him more… Talk him out of all this… "And don't worry; because once you die I won't be long after…"

All four watched as the elevator doors closed behind the brunette and silence fell over them for a full ten minutes before the silence was broken.

"I'm going to go after him…" Odd whispered, running to the ladder and begin the ascension.

"Come back soon. We need everyone here because it's clear that Xana's going to take advantage of all this and attack. He's strongest when the return has just happened…" Jeremie whispered.

Odd looked back and nodded. "Sissi, thanks for the pep talk earlier. I think maybe we can reach Ulrich…"

Sissi nodded and watched as the blonde climbed up the ladder and disappeared.

"Alright, Sissi, go get some food and water so that we can stock up here. We'll stay in the Factory for a few days to make sure that we're prepared," Jeremie ordered, taking his seat in front of the supercomputer.

Sissi nodded and quickly left.

"If Xana attacks the three of us are going to go to Lyoko. Aelita, call Odd and tell him that when he gets done talking to Ulrich that I need him to bring blankets and pillows for us," Jeremie stated as he loaded up everything on the supercomputer and ran a scan.

-Odd-

"Ulrich, please listen… I want to help you, okay? You have no idea what the rest of us have been through since you left. Let's set down and have a talk during lunch and after school if we have to tomorrow. Please?" he asked after he'd caught up to Ulrich.

"Fine, but you'd better not fucking mess with me. I'm already pretty pissed after everything this morning and getting caught earlier. Everything I said back there is the truth. I want to stop, Odd. It's just that for seven months the only person that I could turn to was Alice and Alice used drugs to get away from stuff," Ulrich said as he turned around and looked at the sky. "And I'm sorry about Kiwi…"

Odd gave him a small smile. "Thanks… So, I'll see you later. If Jeremie makes us stay at the Factory then I'll sneak out to talk. We all really need to talk."

"No sht. I really wouldn't have expected you to be the one to follow me. I thought it would be Aelita."

"Yeah, well I wanted to see if I could sneak out to look for Kiwi, too. Then I thought that I might as well come and try to talk to you."

Ulrich nodded and started to walk off before stopping and staring at something. "Hey Odd, am I mistaken or is that Kiwi?"

Odd followed to where Ulrich gaze led and saw Kiwi. He looked a bit skinnier than before, but he was otherwise fine. "Kiwi!"

_**A/N: 1,818 words for this chapter! Longest chapter for my CL stories thus far! X3 I plan on doing this more often. XD Anyway, I'm glad that you all reviewed, but please don't use your reviews to promote other stories. PM me and ask me if you want your story promoted. I've been doing that a bit in here with stories that I like. =3 Be warned, though, that if you review and it's mainly about reading someone else's story then I will try my hardest to have it removed. Anyway, thank you all for the reviews and I hope you'll all review again! X3**_

_** Read and review! X3**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	16. Is That Really You? Part 2

_**Is That Really You…? (Part 2)**_

_** A/N: I'm glad I split this chapter into two parts. X3 Thanks for all the awesomazing reviews! X3 Oh, Strawberry Shortcake lover 13? You want to know something? You can't judge my story if you can't spell. And you had a lot of mistakes in your review. XD Thanks for the laugh, though. XD Go ahead and flame me, but you'd better get your spelling and grammar right and next time, check the reviews. This story has over 50 and all my other CL ones have over 100, so you don't know good writing. XD Oh, and if you don't like it, don't read this far. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

Odd ran over, picking up his dog and hugging him tightly and petting him. "My little diggity dog is back!"

Ulrich let a small smile pass his lips before heading back to their dorm. He had some homework to finish and he wanted to get it done before Alice inevitably called him.

"Oh, you don't know how much I missed you, Kiwi!" Odd exclaimed, raising the dog in the air with a huge smile plastered on his face. After a few seconds he quickly ran with Kiwi back to the Factory and as soon as the elevator opened he let Kiwi loose and screamed, "He's back!"

"What'd we tell you, Odd?" Yumi asked with a smile. Okay, so she'd never particularly loved the dog, but Kiwi was a part of the group and had been sorely missed.

"I guess he was able to feel how badly I felt and finally came home," Odd stated, petting the dog in its favorite spot and looking over at Jeremie. "I'm sorry about yesterday, Jeremie…"

"I understand why you were mad, Odd… I probably should have run a return trip just because you almost died. You could have died and then you wouldn't have been able to be brought back. Poor judgment on my part," he said as he looked down at his friends with a smile. Now they were all here. Well, almost anyway. And minus one was better than minus everyone.

-Ulrich-

Ulrich looked up at the ceiling and threw a pillow. He knew that he needed to change, but how was he supposed to? He only had Odd for support and Odd would probably end up leaving him like anyone else that had tried to help him… As soon as they began to crack him and get him back to normal he was taken away from it. Inevitably something was going to happen to ruin this time, too.

"Ulrich," he heard Alice whisper, which scared the shit out of him.

Alice crawled out of her hiding place and kissed him. "Hey, you look stressed. What's up?"

"Just thinking about stuff…" he told her, keeping his voice low.

She sat on the edge of the bed and moved a piece of hair away from his face. "Wanna talk about it?"

He shrugged and looked at the door. "It's not really something that I can talk about… It's not that I don't trust you, because I do, but that things normally go bad when I tell and then shit happens and you won't remember anyway."

"Why wouldn't I remember?" she asked in a confused tone, tucking her hair behind her ear and studying Ulrich's face. "Was I high or drunk at the time?"

"It's hard to explain, Alice…" he whispered as he pulled her on top of him and hugged her. "It's fine, okay? I'm just a bit shaken up…"

(*)(*)(*)(*) At the Factory ((That night)) (*)(*)(*)(*)

All five teens were sleeping around the computer lab. Yumi was curled against the wall in a ball with her covers lying loosely on her body. Every hour or so she moved and would have to pull the blanket or pillow closer. Odd was laying next to Kiwi on the opposite wall of Yumi, hugging the small dog close and snoring, the sound echoing a small bit in the dome-like room. Sissi was lying with the blanket like a sleeping bag and was faced toward the ceiling and Jeremie and Aelita were lying back-to-back close enough to the supercomputer that one of them could reach it if the alarm for an attack went off.

A few hours later Jeremie nearly woke, but fell back asleep and stretched his legs out. His foot tangled with the cords that brought sound to the supercomputer and pulled them out.

This gave Xana the ultimate chance to attack. The cover of night, the Lyoko Warriors sleeping, the sound gone, and the dog was back… The dog was going to be his target… He'd been watching since they'd arrived at the factory when the brunette boy had done the return to the past. The power was still running its course through the virus and it wasn't going to let it ebb away and be stronger, but still not as strong as this.

Xana activated a tower and, when it popped up on the screen, exactly what he was hoping for happened. Nothing. The silence gave the virus the chance to slip its specter into the dog without a hitch. Now, to kill them…

_**A/N: Definitely shorter than the rest, but don't worry. XD The next one is definitely going to be longer than this. XD This one HAD to end here. XD**_

_** Read and review! X3**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	17. Repercussions

_**Repercussions**_

_** A/N: First, thank you all for reviewing. X3 All of you brought smiles to my face. XD Especially Mr. or Mrs. I think I can lie to get under your skin. XD There are no Code Lyoko fanfictions that have more or anywhere near 3k reviews. XD And you ever spelled your own name wrong. XD Goes to show you that all the good stories are being ignored for sucky ones. XD Anywayz, we're going to see what happens with Ulrich and the gang in this one! ^-^**_

_** To the story!**_

__Ulrich kissed the top of Alice's head before carefully squirming out from underneath her and putting on his clothes for school, after hitting the button on the alarm so that he wouldn't wake up Alice.

After leaving a note asking Alice not to be seen if she left Ulrich headed for breakfast and, after sitting at his usual table, checking his phone while putting bites of food into his mouth.

"Ulrich," Jim said gruffly walking over toward him.

He looked up, sliding his phone into his pocket and putting his food down. "Hmm?"

"Have you seen Della Robbia, Belpois, Stones, or Sissi?" he asked, crossing his arms against his chest and looking down at the brunette.

"Not since yesterday, Jim," he stated as he took another quick bite of food before picking up his tray. "I'll let you know if I see them, though."

"I'm holding you to that, Stern."

-Aelita-

She drowsily pushed herself off the Factory floor, yawned, and then stretched. She was trying to release the tension in her back from lying on the cool, hard metal of the floor. She decided that Sissi had the right idea and if they were going to have to stay down here she was going to mimic her.

"Morning Princess," Odd yawned groggily as he replicated her movements from earlier. Afterwards he rolled up his blanket and came to sit next to her.

"Morning. So, how'd your talk with Ulrich go yesterday?" she asked, looking over at Jeremie and smiling softly. This was the first time in a long time she'd seen him asleep with a peaceful expression.

"He wants to meet up with me later today so that the two of us can talk. He needs to know what we've been through and we need to understand him. Y'know I'm going to have to get back to my joking soon. I'm suffering from prankster withdrawal syndrome," he stated, feigning death.

Aelita let loose a small giggle and soon the two were trying to stifle their laughter so as not to wake up the other three.

Odd liked the fact that he could make all of his friends smile in the most dire of circumstances and now that Kiwi was back he could do it again. At the thought of Kiwi he looked around and couldn't find the small dog.

A few moments later the other three teens got up and there was a shout when Jeremie looked at the screen. "There's an attack!"

In seconds the Lyoko Warriors were in action. Yumi, Odd, Sissi, and Aelita made their way down to the scanners while Jeremie hopped into the computer chair and tried to figure out why the alert hadn't gone off.

"The tower is in the forest sector. I'll bet you anything he'll drag it to another sector, though," Jeremie stated.

"At least all four of us are here this time, huh?" Yumi asked as they began the transfer procedure.

-Ulrich-

Ulrich kicked a soda can. How could he have been so stupid? He'd believed that Odd was going to come and talk to him, but he'd ditched him. He knew that Odd could sneak out past Jeremie. Especially with the threat of a Xana attack. It was easy to tell that Odd didn't want anything to do with Ulrich any longer.

"Psst. Ulrich," Alice whispered from inside a bush. She motioned for him to come over and pulled him into the bush with her. "Let's go and visit Boomer. I'm getting one of my headaches and his stuff can fix that real quick. It's Saturday so classes are over, right?"

Ulrich shook his head. It was most definitely not Saturday. Sure he wasn't exactly positive of the date himself, but he knew for certain that it wasn't Saturday. He never looked at the date on his phone. "Alice, it's Wednesday."

"Oh… Well, can't you skip or something? It'll be alright as long as they don't find us, right?" she asked, pulling him closer and lowering her voice more.

He couldn't tell that Alice genuinely didn't want him to get caught. "Worried about me going to juvy again?"

She nodded. "You always come back different when you go there. Don't you remember that one time when you were gone for a week and then you got all violent and shit for a month?"

"You'll be lucky if I remember yesterday, Alice," he stated with a small chuckle.

Alice rolled her eyes and nodded. "Same here. Anyway, you want to come with me?"

Ulrich looked back at the bench he'd been waiting near, it faced toward the forest where Odd would have come out, and then nodded. "Let's go. You're not the only one with a headache."

Alice smiled softly before looking around for anyone that might tell and then leading Ulrich out of the school grounds.

"Y'know, for almost an entire year you've always been here for me…" he whispered as the two walked.

She hugged his arm and smiled. "You wanna know something funny? When you came to that school I began falling out of love with Leon… He just wanted me for drugs, alcohol, and a good time… You care about me as a person… I mean, I really doubt your friends think that, but remember that time we stayed up in my room at that school and just talked?"

"That was also when you tried to get me to stop smoking the 'yucky cigarettes' and go onto 'bigger and better things' and you failed. But yeah, we talked about our parents and your siblings and my dad and my soccer and everything else under the sun," he replied kissing her forehead.

"You used to be so stubborn. Oh, you know, I decided last night to teepee your parents' house," Alice said with a laugh. "I planned it for Saturday night. I guess that's why I thought it was Saturday…"

Ulrich laughed along with her. It was good to let all the pent up tension out.

(*)(*)(*)(*) Kadic Academy (*)(*)(*)(*)

A xanafied Kiwi walked into the grounds and began sniffing around… He was looking for one person in particular.

"Look, it's a dog!" one of the students squealed, running over to pet the dog.

"That dog really isn't all that cute…" the other girl stated, keeping her distance. "Its eyes are weird."

The girl petting Kiwi shrugged. "I love dogs and I think that this one is really cute."

"Okay, but if you don't hurry we're going to be late for-"

"Ow! He bit me!" the first exclaimed, interrupting the second and pulling her hand away from Kiwi quickly.

"What'd I tell ya?" she asked, taking her friend's shoulders and steering her away. "You should get that checked by the nurse…"

-Odd-

Odd took in a deep breath and yelled to get the other three's attention. They'd been arguing over strategy for the past ten minutes and the blonde was getting impatient. "We're doing my plan or you can go and devirtualize yourselves!"

"Your plan isn't any good!" Sissi snapped, wagging her finger in his direction as Yumi and Aelita said, "neither is yours!"

"New plan. You guys are going to listen to me. Our objective is to get Aelita to the tower safely, so Yumi will use her telekinesis and use things as a barrier while Sissi and Odd shoot at the monsters to help Yumi. Once Yumi gets too tired to keep the make-shift shield up then Odd and Sissi will stand next to her and the three of you will make your way through the horde, any objections?" Jeremie asked, a twinge of anger in his voice.

The four teens looked at each other.

"All in favor of trying out Jeremie's plan since we can't agree?" Odd asking, raising his hand in support. When the other three followed suit he yelled up, "No objections."

"Good, now get going. I have no idea what Xana is doing this time and I've tried reaching Ulrich, but-"

"Crap! I was supposed to meet him! I hope he didn't get mad and decided against giving us another chance…" Odd whispered as they made their way across the empty part of the area toward the tower.

"No monster so far and Odd? I really don't think that Ulrich is any of our concern right now… I'm sorry to say it, but if he chooses to ignore us then it's his loss and he'll feel guilty about it. Right now we need to focus on getting Aelita in and out of the tower safely. If it would make you feel better I can leave and check up on him, but I doubt you'll want me gone," Jeremie stated as three monsters appeared behind the tower. "You'd probably end up having been taken out by the monsters behind the tower."

"Thanks Einstein. Keep trying to contact him and keep us up to date on what's going on," Yumi stated as she made the shield, nearing the monsters.

"There are six. Three on each side. Sissi, you stick to your side and I'll stick to mine," Odd stated. "Unless you need help," he joked with a short grin in her direction.

"No time for joking Odd. And if I need help? What about you?" she asked, throwing her baton at the nearest monster and nearly missing, but hitting it. The monster didn't disappear.

"You missed the sign. It's got seventy life points right now," Jeremie informed her.

"If we can at least keep them at bay then we're good and we all know that I'm not the best fighter. Plus I wasn't very comfortable sleeping on the floor. We need sleeping bags," she stated as she tried hitting the monster and making the mark this time.

"Well, this might be the only time that we need to. Remember how Franz Hopper has been contacting Aelita and me?" he asked.

"How could we not?" Odd replied shooting off laser arrows. "You both almost never stop talking about it at lunch."

"We've been working on a program to get rid of Xana. It's still experimental, though," Jeremie told the others as the fighting continued.

-Random girl that Kiwi bit (I dub her… Maci!)-

She sat up, pushing her red hair behind her arm and turning to look in the mirror. The Xana sign flashed in her eyes and then she clambered out the window and into the forest. Her mission was clear. Take out the blonde genius that ran the show for the warriors fighting against Xana and sabotage them, making sure that Xana wasn't destroyed. If he took out the warriors and brought Franz Hopper out of hiding Xana would be a happy virus.

-Boomer (that's new, huh? XD Normally we got to Alice or Ulrich…) –

He hid behind a dumpster as the police passed by, racing after where they thought he was head, toward his old friend's home. He laughed and grabbed the food that he'd 'borrowed' and headed back for his little home dumpster. It was a comfy little house. Better than the trash his parents lived in, anyway. "Hey, I'm back! I brought food!"

When he was met with silence he got worried. Neither Alice nor Ulrich had ever passed out that fast. Sure, he'd followed them here. He knew Alice like the back of his hand. He'd been getting her drugs and stuff since she was in sixth grade. He'd been giving Ulrich drugs since he'd started 'em. Both had a strong tolerance level, so he had every right to be worried.

When he heard the two's shallow breathing from within the dumpster he pushed the food against the wall of the small alleyway and climbed in, standing in between the two. "Holy shit! Alice! Alice! Didn't you listen when you told you only a small bit'll do? How much did you take?"

Alice's response was vomiting on his shoes.

"Great… The police want me found and I need to get you both to the hospital… We're in deep shit, my friends…" he stated as he kneeled down to try and get the two onto their sides so that they wouldn't end up dying from getting their vomit in their lungs while he searched for a way to get them to the hospital. He checked Ulrich's pockets and found his phone. Conveniently, someone was calling. "Hello?"

"Who is this…?" the person on the other end asked, confused.

"Umm… Bobby… Listen, you're someone Ulrich knows or else you wouldn't be callin' right?" he asked, taking the chance that he was being given. Maybe this kid could get an ambulance for the two.

"I wouldn't really say friend right now…"

"Then someone that at least gives enough crap about him to give a shit if he's in trouble, right?"

"What did he do now?" the kid asked in an exasperated tone. He was clearly annoyed.

"Weeeeeeeeell… He overdosed on a drug and now he and Alice, you know her right?, are out cold in a dumpster and I think that they need an ambulance, but I can't call or I'll end up in jail and I can't be there again. So, would you call?"

"Give me a second…"

-Jeremie-

"You guys, Ulrich overdosed and apparently needs an ambulance. I'm going to call one and try to get more information from the person that called. You guys are doing pretty well, by the way," he stated after he made it so Bobby couldn't hear him.

"We'll talk about a return trip when we deactivate the tower," Yumi stated gruffly.

"Yeah… Oh crap… Aelita, take control of the computer and talk to the kid!" he shouted as a girl came up behind him and threw him to the ground.

_**A/N: 2,378! That's how many words are in the chapter. X3 The author is proud of herself. ^-^ And Strawberry Shortcake Lover 13? If you don't like the story then stop reviewing. They're all just being deleted. Though, I think it keeps them to the tally of reviews. XD Next chapter, tower deactivation and a big debate over a return to the past for our druggy brunettes. XD**_

_** Read and review! X3**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	18. Decisions Decisions

_**Decisions Decisions…**_

_** A/N: Ahh… Definitely still learning. See, during school today my friends and I were playing 21 (blackjack) during lunch. I still don't understand the rules fully, but I'm getting better. XD Truthfully, it's not really 21 because we're not placing bets. XD So are you still around, Kep? =3 Taffy, you reading this, too? XD Thanks for the reviews everyone! X3**_

_** To the story!**_

__"Odd, you and Sissi need to take my place…" Yumi whispered as she began to slowly lower the items that she was using as a shield.

Odd nodded and the three moved into their new formation. Odd and Sissi in the lead to protect Aelita, Aelita in the middle, and Yumi bringing in the rear. "If Sissi or I get devirtualized then you'll need to take our place, Yumi."

Yumi nodded as she watched the two fight. She knew that she didn't have the strength to fight right now, so decided to watch instead.

-Aelita-

She kept her voice low enough so as not to distract the others. "Umm… Hello?"

"Hi… Who is this…? And where'd the other kid go? Wait, never mind. Will you call me an ambulance for Ulrich and Alice or what?"

"Where are you at exactly? I need the address to give to the ambulance," she stated as she watched Sissi and Odd working together to take down the last two monsters that stood in their way. Sadly, both were megatanks and both Sissi and Odd had issues with those. Where was that mysterious guy from the other fight when you needed him?

After giving Aelita the address and Aelita calling 911 for an ambulance Boomer spoke again, "Thanks… Listen, I'm a pretty decent guy and I'm really worried about these guys so if I give you my phone number will you call and let me know if anything changes?"

"You were the one giving them drugs in the first place," Aelita stated, anger bubbling inside her.

"I know… You don't understand, though. I've known Alice since we were little and when she got mixed up with Leon I started getting her drugs so that I knew that she wouldn't just leave me… I'm not in love with her or anything, but I do worry about her a lot… Normally I give them just enough to get them high and nothing more, but Alice got into it and seemed to have used more than her body could tolerate… Same for Ulrich… Please just call me when something comes up…" he told her then gave her his phone number.

-Jeremie-

Dodging and attacking things were not his forte, so he got hit quite a few times, but this girl was a bit slow, so he managed to knock her away a few times, long enough for him to give quick instructions to Aelita.

"You can't protect yourself forever…" Maci told him in her xanafied tone.

Jeremie knew that she was right, but wasn't going to go down without a fight so he shut his eyes tight and stuck out his leg as she ran toward him, making her trip forward.

He reached up to his earpiece and began talking quickly. "Aelita, listen. Send Odd or Yumi to me. Xana's possessed Maci and we need to get this done quickly."

"I agree. Which one has less life points?" she quickly responded.

Jeremie pulled himself up to see that Odd had twenty points less than Yumi did. Sissi, Yumi, and Aelita were decent in that department. Odd only had fifteen life points left. "Odd. He's got way less. I think that Sissi and Yumi can do it sufficiently."

"Alright, I'll send him a soon as we can afford it. There really aren't that many monsters left, but I'm worried about Yumi. She's still not all the way better from using her telekinesis…"

"I get what you mean. Listen, hurry. Maci is waking up so just… hurry. I can't hang on much longer," he told her, putting down the headpiece and rolling to the side as Maci stood up and aimed a kick at him.

-Boomer-

He bit his lip and decided to go into the hospital. Yes, he was wanted by the police, but Alice and Ulrich needed a friend there and Alice's parents weren't going to give a shit and Ulrich's parents were on some business trip, so he'd heard.

"How can I help you?" the receptionist asked him, looking up with a forced smile.

"I was wondering if you have any information on Alice Standall or Ulrich Stern?" he asked, pulling the hood of his sweatshirt up so that no one would be able to recognize him right off. He planned on taking out some of his piercing when the woman replied.

"Are you in the immediate family?" she asked, lowering her glasses to look over him.

"No… But I'm the only family that Alice has…" he whispered as he looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one was staring.

The woman sighed and looked him over. "You'll want to go through security so that we can be sure that you're not trying to smuggle drugs to her, but after that we'll let you through…"

He nodded and made his way over to the area marked security… He had to get in to see Alice and Ulrich… This was his fault… He had to fix it…

-Odd-

"You're going to milk this, aren't you?" Jeremie asked exasperatedly as Odd stood against the wall.

"She's not focused on me and you need to build up some muscle. And I'll admit that I want to see you roughed up a bit after what you did to Kiwi and me," he told Jeremie as he made his way to the supercomputer. "You just need to hang on for a little while longer. There's on monster left and it only has ten life points."

"Odd!" Jeremie shouted as Maci came at him.

"Okay, okay…" he sighed, walking over and knocking Maci down. "Y'know, we're working on your muscles later."

"Yeah, yeah…" Jeremie mumbled as he moved to a corner.

Odd wasn't forced to fight Maci long, because the others de-activated the tower on Lyoko.

(*)(*)(*)(*) At the Hospital –A few hours later- (*)(*)(*)(*)

"Thanks…" Jeremie said to the doctor and came to sit back down with his friends. "We've got a huge decision to make that's going to change a lot of things…"

"What would that be, Einstein?" Odd asked as he leaned back a bit and yawned. It was pretty late.

"The doctor just told me that it's a very real possibility that Ulrich and Alice aren't going to make it… Even with them having pumped their stomachs and everything else they did. His temperature just isn't going down. So, do we do a return to the past to make sure that Ulrich lives or leave it to fate or whatever?" Jeremie asked, opening up his laptop.

The four looked at their hands. They might be choosing between Ulrich living or dying…

_**A/N: Well, that's that. XD So now you know that they're having issues… XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	19. Why'd You Do It?

_**Why'd You Do It?**_

_** A/N: It's me again! X3 Hello people who are reading my story! X3 Hehe. It's 12:53 p.m. right now. So, am I the only person that has heard about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan? XD Poor Japanese peoples… I really should post chapter 18… … Just did it. XD Hmm… P: Ohhhh… I might get to see my friend's baby tomorrow. X3 I've seen pictures and stuff. XD … I got to see her baby and she's sooooo cuuuuute! X33 She's four months old. Oh, I don't think I ever said when this story is taking place… The prologue was basically somewhere near the end of season 2 and close to the beginning of season 3. Or maybe in season three. Anyway, the rest takes place in season 4.**_

_** To the story!**_

"So you're saying that if we take a vote and it says that we don't do a return to the past…" Odd began, looking up at Jeremie and then flitting his eyes to Yumi, Aelita, and Sissi.

"Then we could be responsible for Ulrich's death…?" Sissi asked, finishing the question for Odd.

Jeremie nodded. "That's basically it…"

"I'm assuming that we're all going to vote the same thing, then," Yumi stated as she leaned back in her chair, resting her back.

"Those in favor of saving Ulrich?" Jeremie asked, looking up and pushing his glasses up higher on his nose.

A few seconds later all four were holding up their hands a small bit.

"We're not going to just let him die…" Odd whispered. "It wouldn't be fair."

"I think it'd be like being a doctor and knowing that you could help someone with something and then deciding not to and letting them die," Sissi stated, moving her chair closer to where her friends were.

"I'll head to the Factory and let you know when I'm about to set off the return to the past," Jeremie told them as he folded up his laptop and placed it into his messenger bag.

"Get there quick, because he may not have a lot time left…" Aelita whispered as Mr. Delmas walked in.

Mr. Delmas walked over to them as Jeremie left the building.

"Kids, it's understood that you want to be here for Ulrich since you were friends before, but there is school tomorrow and I'll be staying here. It would be in your best interest if you went back to the school and slept," he told them, as he sat down next to Sissi.

"Daddy, Ulrich might not make it…" she whispered, looking around to Odd, Yumi, and Aelita with her head down.

"Mr. Delmas, we'd really like to stay… His parents aren't even here and neither are his girlfriend's… He's got nobody here…" Aelita whispered to Mr. Delmas, thinking back on how rude they all were. IT made her feel as if this were a small bit their fault and brought tears to her eyes.

"They're right, Mr. Delmas. Lately we all haven't really been friends, but he told us that he's trying to change and we really believe that… We want to be here in case he gets better," Yumi said, taking a seat next to Aelita and putting a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"I'm with them… This is my fault anyway," Odd whispered, looking around at his friends.

"No, Odd, it wasn't. It was bound to happen sooner or later. He is an addict and standing up for an addict is never the right way to go. He needs help and as soon as he recovers he'll be being sent to a juvenile detention center where he'll get help with all these issues. Jim and I would like it if you kids would help us so that he doesn't end up relapsing again," Mr. Delmas told them as a doctor walked over.

"Sir, are you the adult in charge of Ulrich Stern?" the man asked with a serious tone.

Mr. Delmas nodded and stood up, shaking the man's hand.

"We'd like to try an experimental drug on him to see if we can bring the affects of the overdose down. Right now it may be the only thing that is between the boy living and dying," he explained, looking down at a chart. "Do you know who the person who is responsible for Alice Standall is?"

(*)(*)(*)(*) At the Factory After the Return to the Past (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Ulrich-

"Stop fucking messing with me, okay? I get it, you all don't give a shit," Ulrich stated, his arms folded across his chest and leaning against the wall inside the elevator. "You're lucky I even bothered coming here. Why'd you do it?"

"Just get in here and let us talk," Yumi stated, glaring him down from beside the chair in front of the supercomputer.

Ulrich walked over and frowned. "I had to ditch Alice to get here, so you'd better be grateful that I even bothered. You all haven't been all that nice to me."

"You haven't been all that nice to us," Yumi countered as Jeremie said, "Just let us talk, okay?"

Ulrich took a deep breath and nodded. "Go ahead."

"We want to help you, Ulrich," Jeremie began, looking over to each side of the chair where his other friends stood and making a point of showing Ulrich they all were nodding in agreement. "Odd was the first to want to do that, but Xana attacked and made it so that he couldn't. He did want to talk with you, but Xana prevented it."

"If all of you are in support of this then why isn't Sissi here? And how did you end up letting her into the group anyway?" Ulrich asked quickly.

"Sissi isn't here because she's keeping her dad and Jim busy so that they don't realize that we're all not at school. With the exception of Yumi. And we'll get to that eventually. Right now this is focused on you and if you really did mean everything that you said back there. We need to know if you really do have your mind set to change. If you don't we can't bother with all this because it will cause a huge drop in our stamina as a group, again, and we need to be ready," Jeremie replied, looking over at Aelita.

"We really do want to help you… Before you got here we all took a vote, Ulrich. We all want you back on the team and we all want to help you get better. We all also have our questions and our doubts about whether letting you in the group is a good idea," Aelita told him, walking over and putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

He sucked in a deep breath. "Listen, all that stuff is true. I want to get help, okay? Every time I've gotten help or gotten close to changing something happened and it got screwed up… I started getting blamed for stuff that I didn't even do and when I stopped doing all that stuff and got back to just being me my parents would say that I was the unknown kid in the bathroom that was smoking weed… I was the kid that did everything… It got to be too much and then I went back to it…"

"You could've called us, you know…" Odd whispered, looking at his shoe.

"What would you have said to me? 'Hey Ulrich, you should stop that shit and come back so you can help us with Xana. It's getting really overwhelming without you here.' That's it. You would have only wanted me back for help with Xana and I wanted out of that, remember? I needed someone that would support me and keep me away from that stuff. Not someone telling me to stop just for their own reasons," he answered, looking them all in the eye. "And don't lie. You know you would have something along those lines. It's most of what you've said ever since I got back here."

"Ulrich, I told you… You have no idea what any of us have been through in the year that you've been gone… How much each of us has lost and how your leaving caused it…" Odd whispered, hugging Kiwi tightly.

"So now you're going to go ahead and tell me, aren't you?" he asked as he messed with his lip ring.

Jeremie nodded and pointed to Odd. "You already know what partially happened to Odd. He lost Kiwi, but also almost became paralyzed. A mistake on my part was the reason that we hadn't found Kiwi until today. Odd can't skateboard any longer because an attack planned by Xana threw him into a tree and messed with his spine."

"Some days I can't even get out of bed. The doctors said that I might end up paralyzed for real if I'm not careful when I went for a check-up a few months after the incident," Odd stated, sitting down on the floor and stroking Kiwi's back. "So now my siblings and mom are all worried and I'm not allowed to do any kind of sport or anything."

"The stress of my constantly sneaking out and lying to my parents led to more fighting between them. They'd blame each other for parenting and saying it was the other's fault. Hiroki ran away for awhile there and now my parents are split… I barely see either of them and Hiroki is still upset about the whole thing…" Yumi told him, taking a seat next to Odd and petting Kiwi.

"Definitely not as big as Yumi and Odd's for Aelita and me. For one, we've both been getting into humongous trouble for sneaking out of school to come here at night so that we can get work done. Our grades are dropping and now, since I bet you haven't heard, rumors are going around school that the two genius of Kadic or either having sex somewhere or we're off getting information from other people to get smart. Which, I don't understand the second one, but you know some of the kids around school," Jeremie stated as Aelita walked over to Odd and started petting Kiwi, too.

"Sissi has had it pretty hard, too… Her father has lost all patients with her and he barely even talks to her anymore. It's part of the reason she's not here. She wants to get her dad to trust her again. He knows that she's leaving her room at night to get to us for Xana attacks and Jim is supposed to be on extra high alert to catch any of us out of bed. And of course William is still under Xana's control," Aelita added.

"Add in the fact that Xana gets some sick humor out of trying to get us to believe that you had come back… He'd make polymorphic clones of you and send them here pretending to be you only to stab us in the back. It really got to Sissi… At one point she ended up pretending that Lyoko didn't exist and she didn't know… She even started hanging out with Herve and Nicolas again," Yumi told him.

"Do you want the truth? I don't think all of this is completely my fault. Yumi, your parents have been fighting for a long time. We all could have guessed that they'd end up separating… Hiroki running away was something I didn't expect, but it's possible even if I hadn't left. Xana was bound to attack really strong at some point, so Odd's injury can't be blamed entirely on me either. It's more Jeremie than me because he didn't do the return trip, though that could be considered my fault. And Sissi and William are more my fault, but Aelita and Jeremie aren't. This all goes back to Xana. I'm not pushing the blame off myself. I know that part of it is definitely my fault. I'm just saying that it has other factors," he stated as he began pacing.

"No one is saying that it's solely your fault, Ulrich… We're just saying that things probably would have ended already if you hadn't had left…" Aelita whispered and looked up at Jeremie.

"We all just want you to understand what the situation is right now and how everything that has happened since you left has affected each of us. No one is pushing blame on you," he told the brunette calmly.

Ulrich shook his head and began rubbing his temples. "I'm going on a walk." As he walked toward the elevator he turned around and added, "I'll come back when I feel like it. I'll refrain from any of my usual behavior till we get this all figured out. Just leave me alone for a bit."

-Odd-

He watched as the elevator closed and waited a few seconds before speaking. "Jeremie, I'm going to follow him. Watch Kiwi for me?" He didn't wait for an answer and headed toward the ladder to make sure that he could follow Ulrich. He was worried he might do something stupid.

_**A/N: I think the ending got a little dumb, but oh well. X3 So, next chapter will probably have individual conversations with Ulrich and others in the group. I might add a little UxSi because I feel like it. It'll be more one-sided, though. XD Right now I plan on leaving it off on a note that I could continue something with it if I felt like it. XD Right now there are two projects that I'm working on for more stories for you guys. =3 There's Disappearance (as a continuation of events and the epilogue of Times to Remember and Things to Change) and It Doesn't Matter. X3 I'm really excited for the both of them. =D Then there'll also be a UlrichxOdd fic in there somewhere and a fic where Ulrich's turns out to be adopted. XD Flyboy961 knows some of the ideas revolving around the Ulrich adopted one and I'll probably post more on my profile soon. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	20. Thoughts Part 1

_**Thoughts (Part 1)**_

_** A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Special thanks to flyboy961 (again) for being my backboard for bouncing ideas off of and helping me with the next chapter or two! X3 Yay for flyboy961! XD Lesee… P: Nothing else to say! XD**_

_** To the story!**_

Odd wanted to talk to Ulrich, but he was also really curious as to where the brunette was going. He wasn't headed back to the school, that's for sure…

"Alice!" he heard Ulrich whispered loudly toward an alleyway. "Are you there?"

That took him by surprise. Why was Ulrich coming to Alice of all people when he said he needed time to think?

"Shh… What's wrong? You look like you saw a car hit someone…" she whispered as her head came out from the alleyway kissing him quickly.

"Nothing… Just a little freaked… Listen, you and I need to talk. I'm a little busy right now, but we'll talk later… I'll call you when I've got time, okay?" he asked, kissing her temple and giving her a quick hug.

Alice gave him a small smile and nodded. "I'll go back to my cousin's since Boomer isn't here and wait till you call. That or I can wait in your dorm?"

"Just go back to your cousin's. I'll come to you when I get the chance."

" 'kay. I'll see you later. Oh, you've got someone watching you…" she stated, pointing to Odd's hiding spot.

Odd popped up and waved. "Hi… I just wanted to talk to Ulrich for a second and didn't want to interrupt…"

"Odd, buzz off. I told you I wanted time alone," he stated as he spun around, shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked away.

Odd chased after him and grabbed his shoulder. "Ulrich, you're lying, aren't you? You just left to go and do some drugs with her, didn't you? De-stress your way, right?"

"You don't know anything, Odd. You don't know a thing about me, got that? You all act just like my parents did!"

"You're the one saying you need to think about things and then leaving to go talk to her! What were you planning on doing in between talking to her now and then later?" Odd shouted as the two walked down the street.

"Exactly!" Ulrich shouted back, spinning around and pointing to Odd. "That's exactly what I'm talking about! Let me guess, you thought I was going to go off and do drugs to de-stress, right? Oh, or that I was going to get drunk and have some fun with Alice before coming back? Any of those right or should I keep guessing? Leave me the fuck alone, Odd. And tell the others that you just screwed them over. I'm going to try and get better alone and then I could just join Xana. Maybe get William out and then you'd all be happy, wouldn't you? You'd have William and I bet you'd figure out how to beat us eventually."

"You know that's not what anyone wants, Ulrich. We just want you back. The real you. The one that you keep saying is trying and trying, but keeps falling to the drugs. How are we supposed to trust that you're not off doing that, hmm? We don't want to end up losing you again and you know that's the truth," Odd stated as he walked closer to Ulrich.

"Then why don't you trust me? I know it's difficult, but I want to change. How many times do I have to say that before I make that clear enough for you guys? I've said it a bunch and all I get is 'we need to make sure' and 'how are we supposed to?'. How am I supposed to even change at all if I have to worry about you asking me where I went every time I leave?"

"We'll stop once you earn back our trust. You're forgetting that we have to be positive that you're not going to go back, Ulrich. If you slip up just once that could be the difference between the entire team dying or living. Xana could take advantage of you being high and use you. How do we know that you being high or drunk doesn't affect the fact that Xana can't possess us? How do we know if he can or can't possess you since you haven't been to Lyoko in so long? All this is important and we can't just be like a normal group of kids in accepting you back or anything. Even if you did skip out on the Lyoko stuff Xana would still try to use you against us. He's tried before…" Odd told him, whispering the last part.

"Odd… I'm not going back to drugs and stuff. Jeremie can run tests to see all of that, can't he? My life is so messed up…" he whispered as he sat down on a bench.

Odd took the seat next to him. "You've got us now, right? So you're not alone this time. We're going to make you all better, okay?"

Ulrich smiled and nodded. "You always know how to cheer a guy up."

Odd gave him a wide smile and nodded. "Don't you know it! We're going to be here for you one hundred percent!"

"Thanks. Hey, I've got to go talk to Alice. I want to help her…" he whispered. "She's been doing this stuff for so much longer than me and I'm worried… It was her idea to take more than what Boomer gave us and then we ended up in the hospital and almost died… She can't keep doing it…"

"Do you really love her?" Odd asked, looking up at a bush. He couldn't really believe that Ulrich was the same person from a year ago…

"Yeah, I think I do… It's not the same with her as it was with Yumi and me… I feel a lot closer to Alice than I ever did with Yumi… I doubt you know the feeling, but it hurts to be away from her…" he whispered.

Odd let out a small laugh and nodded. "I get what you mean. Sam's gotten a lot better with stuff since the last time we all saw her and now we're dating and making the whole long distance thing work. She came a week before you were here and it was like being re-united with a piece of myself…" Odd sighed with a small smile.

"And you didn't say any of this?" Ulrich asked in a teasing tone.

"I thought you genuinely wouldn't care," he replied with a small laugh and then a serious look. "What about Yumi, then?"

"I'm not sure… We're still kids, you know. I don't know if I love either of them, really… The feelings I have for Alice could easily be ones that I would have for Yumi had I stayed or if we sit and talk and hang-out like before…" he stated, looking up at the sky.

"You go talk to Alice. I'm going to tell Sissi that Jeremie wants her for her training," he stated as he stood up. "And yes, we've started training and as soon as your back General No Fun is going to inevitably put you through some."

Ulrich laughed and nodded, standing up. "Thanks again, Odd."

"No problem. Now you go and talk to Alice and I'll see you later."

Ulrich nodded and the two walked off in their separate directions.

_**A/N: That was longer than I wanted it to be… XD Tomorrow'll probably be another chapter about this length. Maybe. Depends. XD Do you like the longer ones or the shorter ones? =3 Anyway, next talks are Alice and Yumi. XD If it's not too late or too long by then I'll add in the talk with Sissi. X3 Let me know what you think! =3**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	21. Thoughts Part 2

_**Thoughts (Part 2)**_

_** A/N: I'm hoping for only three parts to this. XD All depends on how much Alice, Yumi, Sissi, Jeremie, and Aelita want to talk. XD I'm hoping for Alice, Yumi, and Sissi for part 2. X3**_

_** To the story!**_

"Alice, we need to talk…" he whispered to her as the two sat in her room.

"We're in so much trouble…" she whispered nearly inaudible to him, but he caught it.

"Is that something you wish to share, Alice?" he asked, coming to sit beside her and kissing her forehead.

"Not until I'm completely sure, no," she stated softly, lying down on her bed and looking at the ceiling. "What did you want to talk about, anyway?"

"Well, right now I'm trying to stop with the drugs and alcohol and shit. I wanted to talk about you stopping, too… It would be a huge help to me if you would so that we're doing it together and I'm not tempted to do it because you are…" he told her, laying down beside her and stroking her hair.

"I'll try, but you know how badly that normally goes…" she whispered, kissing his nose.

"That's when we're apart… This time we're doing it together, right?" he whispered, kissing her back.

"Yeah… Boomer wants me to stop, too," she added. "If we're going to do this then I need to be out of this house, though. We'll both end up way too tempted if I stay here… Maybe I can get enrolled at Kadic somehow…"

"I'll see if I can get anything figured out… With your permanent record they may want your parents here since you're not emancipated."

She nodded. "If anything my cousins could pose as my parents and I'll say that I want to try and get better and it'll be good for me. And I can always say that my parents don't know because they're druggies and don't want me here if my cousins refuse."

"Sounds like a plan… So, what are you hiding from me?"

"Please don't push it… You're going to be stressed enough as is. I don't want you stressing over something that turns out to be nothing."

"Fine, fine… You tell me the moment you find out, though. Whether it's true or not," he stated as he stood up and stretched. "Anyway, I need to be headed back to the school so I don't get in trouble."

"Why would you get in trouble? It's not curfew yet, is it?" she asked, looking over at her clock.

"I'm not really supposed to be off school grounds, okay? I don't know how much longer my distraction will last," he stated as he kissed her forehead and headed out the door.

-Yumi-

She paced in front of the school's entrance waiting for Ulrich. There was so much that she needed to say to him… To find out from him… She needed to hear the truth and couldn't get it from anyone else… When he got close enough to hear her she said, "Ulrich, we need to talk…"

He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we do…"

"Let's go to your room so we can without worrying about someone else hearing us," she stated taking the lead and walking toward Odd and Ulrich's room.

He followed, his hands sitting in his pockets, without a word.

When the two reached his dorm Ulrich took a seat on his bed and Yumi occupied Odd's.

"You first," Ulrich said, leaning his head against the wall.

"There's so much that I want to say, Ulrich… One of which being that if William were back I wouldn't be content. I'm not even sure how you could think something like that. You meant, and mean, the world to me Ulrich. I don't feel the same way about William as I do about you. William is just a friend. I don't love him…" she told him in a shaky voice, looking up at the ceiling. She couldn't bear to meet his eyes…

"I have Alice… Truthfully, I'm not sure which of you I love… With the both of you it's different. I know that I miss you and I hate seeing you hurting… I could barely keep being mad at you when I would see that you were beginning to tear up… With Alice, though, it hurts to be away from her… It feels like a piece of me is missing and when I'm with her and we're together then I'm fully myself… I don't know if that's just because I've been with her for year or not… I just… I'm not sure…" he told her.

She couldn't tell if he was trying to meet her gaze or not, but he wasn't going to anyway. She couldn't bear to look him in the eye right now…

"Then we'll see… Ulrich, tell me something… Was it my fault that you left…? Back when you said that I'd be happy if William were here you said that you left because you got sick of the games we used to play with each other's emotions… So, was I the reason you left…? I don't even know why I did that… It seems so childish now…"

"My choice of leaving was a combination of things… One of which was our messing with each other… Xana was the main one, but I needed to get away from that… I couldn't take it…"

"You left us in such a tight spot when you left… Three days after you left Xana tried to set us all ablaze… The entire school caught on fire… We're lucky that no one was killed… How could you have been so selfish, Ulrich? We needed you. The entire human race needed you and you just packed up and left… Not everyone has what it takes to be a Lyoko Warrior… There are only a few that can handle it and when we were that far into the game training a new recruit was difficult… When we got Sissi to join us she wasn't ready for any of it… We were so worried that we'd end up with another William on our hands that Jeremie worked all of us to the brink of exhaustion so as to get in training time for Sissi before the next attack… How could you just leave…?"

-Ulrich-

He looked down at his shoes. Now it was his turn to avoid her eyes… "I guess I just got so caught up in going to a school for something that I loved and leaving all the Xana stuff behind that I didn't think about that… I didn't think about what problems that it would cause all of you… During that time I was just focused on what I wanted to do."

"That was really selfish of you…" she whispered as she looked at him through her eyelashes.

He nodded.

Silence fell over the two and Ulrich was about to get up to stretch his legs for a walk before Yumi whispered, "Why Alice…?"

"Back then I was still in the selfish Ulrich phase. She was in full support of my moving to America to play soccer and came to all the games and stuff… I chose to lose soccer. Maybe once I'm all better and not suffering from withdrawal symptoms I'll get back to it… And maybe you and I could practice Pencak Silat again?" he asked with a small smile.

"I'd really like that, Ulrich…" she whispered smiling back. "You know, we've all missed you a lot and I'm happy that you're trying to get back to your old self…"

"Well, you should probably be headed home and I need to get to dinner before all the food is gone… See you tomorrow," he said before leaving the room and walking down the hall.

As he walked he started to think about everything that had happened. He was finally getting back to being himself again and hopefully this time, with his friends' and Alice's help, he would actually accomplish the goal of it before he veered off course and ended up a druggy again… They needed Ulrich the Lyoko Warrior and Ulrich the druggy was going to go away this time. For real.

A few minutes after he'd sat down in the cafeteria and began eating Sissi walked over and sat down. "I'll leave if you want me to, but I just wanted to say thank you…"

Ulrich raised an eyebrow at her and motioned for her to continue as he ate.

"If you hadn't have left I wouldn't have ever made the best friends I've ever had… Because you left I got to be in on the secret that I'd always wanted to know… Hangout with the kids that I wanted to hangout with… I get to save the world like you all did… If you hadn't have left then that would have never happened and I'd still be the stuck-up brat that I used to be," she said as she put a bite of food in her mouth.

"You really know how to cheer a person up, Sissi… All I've heard since I left was how horrible I was and then having to explain myself. I'm glad that some good things happened out of my moving… If you were in my shoes back then, what would you have done? Your parents bugging you for better grades while your dad talked about this amazing school in America with an amazing sports' program and scouts that would come and look for new talents... Being tired of the life of a Lyoko Warrior… Tired of the repetition and the near-death experiences…" he whispered, laying his chin on his arms after putting his arms on the table.

"I probably would have stayed here and demanded a break for awhile, not taking no for an answer… I mean, yeah, it can be overwhelming, but there are only a special few of us that can do it, right? And they were your friends and still might have needed you for non-Lyoko related matters…"

"I guess you're right, Sissi… It was really hard leaving, too… Jeremie was pretty ticked and Yumi refused to even look at me. The only people that were supportive of it were Odd and Aelita and Jeremie still called to get me back here…"

"See, there you go… They could have given you a break every once in awhile. I mean, they really wanted you to be here. I should know. None of them could stop talking about it. 'This would be so much easier if Ulrich were here.' Or 'We'd be done with this in half the time if Ulrich were here to help…' and things such as that. Odd was always complaining about how his best friend wasn't here and would sabotage any attempts that Daddy made in trying to get a new roommate for him. Most of the time it just took the smell of his feet to have them running," she told him with a smile.

"Sounds like Odd alright…" he whispered, looking at his food. "Sissi?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't hate me for all of this, right? I mean, I know that the others were really mad in the beginning, but you never really seemed to try either way… Why is that?"

"Answering in all truth and honest, I don't hate you. Things get difficult and it happens a lot… I don't see how people get hooked on the stuff with how nasty smelling it is, but I get it… It's difficult to be the hero and get good grades and all that. And I never tried, because I had faith in you. I knew that deep down in your heart you were a Lyoko Warrior and you knew it. You knew that you were a fighter and I knew that you'd come back eventually… And here we are now. You and me sitting here talking like this and you wanting to come back."

Ulrich smiled and leaned over and hugged her. "You really don't know how much that means to me… After everything you're the first person that has pointed fingers and told me that I didn't care or that I was being selfish…"

Sissi hugged him back and replied with a smile, "That's what friends are for, right?"

(*)(*)(*)(*) Later That Evening –Jeremie's dorm- (*)(*)(*)(*)

"I'm assuming you know why I've called you in here?" Jeremie asked, looking Ulrich in the eye.

"Yeah, to talk with me, right?" he asked with a sigh. Jeremie had woken him up at mid-night for this…

"Yeah…"

_**A/N: that's a decent place to leave off as it's a good set-up for the next chapter. XD I'm kind of looking forward to finishing this fic. =3 It's gone on for a good amount of time. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	22. Thoughts Part 3

_**Thoughts (Part 3)**_

_** A/N: Uber-upset right now. Our home computer died. : ( Kind of. It overheated or something. Luckily for me I work from the laptop. XD Anyway, my mom was a jerk today. It sucked. It all got worked out kind of, though.**_

_** To the story!**_

"This is going to take us awhile, Ulrich. I have a lot that I want to talk about. That's why I called you here this late. Yeah, we're both pretty tired, but there won't be any interruption for six or seven hours until breakfast and school. I'll grab us some coffee if I have to," he stated as he looked over at Ulrich.

He nodded and leaned his head against the wall, sitting on Jeremie's bed. "There shouldn't be any interruption unless Alice decides to call. Jeremie, I want to get one thing straight right now. The both of us really want to change. I've spoken to Alice and she wants to stop, but neither of us can do it if the other isn't trying and Alice can't do it if she's still at her cousin's. Can you help get her out of there and maybe enrolled here?"

"I can't just take your word for it. I want to see it happening first. Do you realize how much is riding on this?"

Ulrich nodded and looked Jeremie straight in the eyes. "I can't do this without Alice, Jeremie. I've tried. I've gotten to this point before and I can't be around Alice at all if you won't get her out of there. Her house reeks of that stuff and then she does, too."

"Try harder then. The Ulrich we all know wouldn't give up that easily. Fight for the things that you want. Right now you've put me in a really bad position. Odd and Aelita want to let you back in. Sissi's partial to the idea and Yumi doesn't want you back with us. She has it set in her mind that even though you're saying this stuff you'll up and leave again or you'll get addicted again. Aelita has been going through teasing, name calling, and so much worse because of everything. Don't get me wrong, that isn't your fault. Truthfully, I blame my bad leadership on your leaving. I wasn't a good leader and made it difficult on you and so you felt to get away from that you decided to leave."  
"I don't plan on leaving again nor do I plan on starting with the drugs or alcohol again. I know that you have to worry about everyone else, Jeremie, but I need you guys… I know that I can't do this by myself and I also know that I can't do it without Alice. I know that you barely know her and everything, but please help us…"

"You're talking like the two of you are one person…"

"Ask her and she'll say the same thing I am right now. When the two of us are together we feel like we're whole. We're like one person. When we're apart then we feel like we're missing a piece of ourselves. My heart hurts when we're apart…"

"Ulrich, right here and now you promise me that you're going to get over this. You'll do everything that you can and more to get over your addiction."

"I swear on my life that I'm going to stop. I want to stop. I know that I'm not going to stop and I'd like it if you guys would consider letting me be a Lyoko Warrior again. I'm not expecting to be allowed to be let in right now. I'll refuse, too. I want to prove myself to you guys. I want to gain back the trust that I've lost."

"We're going to need you right away, Ulrich. You can gain that trust by helping out and not going back to drugs. If you're willing then I'll do everything that I can to help you. Don't forget that I went through a bit of addiction with that prototype helmet of Franz Hopper's."

"Thank you, Jeremie…" he whispered, standing up and stretching.

"You're welcome. I know that you're going to do what you can, Ulrich. I have faith in you."

Ulrich laid back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Jeremie, I'm really glad that I came back… Oh, I'm still keeping the blue in my hair."

(*)(*)(*)(*) The Next Day After School (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Aelita-

All through classes she'd been thinking about what she wanted to say to Ulrich. She knew that Odd had talked to him and that Sissi had said something to him, but she didn't know what they'd talked about. She wanted to tell Ulrich that she supported what he was trying to do.

"Aelita, we need to talk. I want to get some stuff straight with you," Ulrich said as he walked up behind her. "You're the only person that I haven't gotten a chance to talk to yet. Yesterday Odd talked to me then I had to talk to Alice and then Yumi wanted to talk, then Sissi and last night Jeremie wanted to talk… It's been pretty overwhelming."

"I'd bet so…" she told him with a small smile.

"So, let's go talk in your room. Odd's in our room and I really don't want to have to talk over him or with him around. Everyone else was one-on-one and it really wouldn't be fair, in my opinion."

(*)(*)(*)(*) Aelita's Room (*)(*)(*)(*)

"There really isn't much that I need or want to say, Ulrich. I'm going to be supportive of you with all of this… I get that all of this can be overwhelming and you took the path that looked best to you… It may have not been the right path, but you did what you thought was right… If I said that I hated you and didn't want you back in the group for doing that then I'd be a hypocrite, in a sense. I did something like that when I basically tried to commit suicide when I found out that I was really human… So, no, I don't blame you…"

Ulrich smiled and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much, Aelita… I wish that we could convince Yumi, though… She may still have feelings for me and everything, but she told Jeremie that she was against me being a Lyoko Warrior again…"

"I'll talk to her… We could really use the help and you've held up to the ditching the drugs. You need to understand, though, that if you do them again then you may end up dooming us all to failure. We're not sure what would happen on Lyoko if you were high and we'd really like to not find out."

Ulrich nodded and stood up stretching. "Aelita, I need Alice for this. Would you see if you and Jeremie can try and get her into the school? She needs to be away from her cousins' and she wants to stop with all that shit, too."

She nodded and hugged him. "Don't worry. We'll get you and Alice through this."

_**A/N: Yay for fluff! XD Next chapter will probably have Alice's secret revealed. OR not. Depending on if I make my decision for yes or no. XD Also, I'd like to know how many of you would be interested in a UxA and JxY fic. I'm just curious. I have some ideas for one, but I don't know if I'll do it yet. XD**_

_** Vote in my poll!**_

_** Read and review! X3**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	23. Return

_**Return**_

_** A/N: *sad face* This story is nearing its end, too… What makes me kind of even sadder is that my review count isn't up to 100 yet and it's almost over. It kind of makes me feel bad because that means that I've either lost reviewers or it's not as good as I thought it was… :( Anyway, for those you that are reading this and plan on continuing to read my works, please go back and read Times **__**to Remember and Things to Change**__** when you have the time if you haven't already. A story continuing off the epilogue of that will be the next one worked on. =3 I'll probably do a short re-cap chapter before the actual first chapter just so that the kids' ages are known. Reading **__**Tale of a Trapped Lyokian**__** wouldn't hurt either. XD**_

_**IAmUlrichStern-Yes. Almost every time that a scene ends with Ulrich and Alice alone and leaves them for awhile that's what's going on. Lolz.**_

_** To the story!**_

Alice paced around her new dorm room and bit her lip. She needed Ulrich right this second, but he was busy doing something or other with Jeremie and the rest of their friends. It really irritated her when they all just disappeared on her and showed up later all tired. That was going to be the case again as it had been for the past week…

When a knock came to her door she was surprised to see Leon standing in the doorway when she opened it. "May I come in?"

"What are you doing here, Leon?" she asked, making him move back and leaning against the door frame. "How'd you find me?"

"It was easy enough. I knew that Ulrich was coming back here and I knew that you'd follow. I stole some money from my parents gradually for the ticket here and here I am," he stated with a seductive grin.

Alice shook her head and looked down at her shoes. "I love Ulrich. Leave me alone."

"You know that isn't true, baby… I mistreated you and you left me… I'm sorry… Please forgive me and take me back…" he whispered, leaning in to kiss her cheek and missing when she moved away.

"Leave me the fuck alone, Leon. I don't want to deal with your bullshit today," she told him forcefully. "Ulrich will be back here any second and when he returns he'll kick your ass."

"Oh will he now?" he asked with a small laugh. "My sources say that you both are quitting with the drugs and shit which means that I've got the upper hand."

"How do you have the upper hand? We've got five other people behind us along with the principal and the gym teacher. That's nine against you."

"No one said that I was alone, Alice… So why don't you just be a good girl and say yes to being my girl again…"

"I'm not yours anymore, Leon. I'm not a dog or a prize to be won. I'm not your plaything. I refuse to go back to that and I refuse to let you ruin my life again. Boomer, Ulrich, and my new friends all want what's best for me and we all know that you're not the best person," she said as she looked over to see Ulrich, Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, and Sissi walking up the hall toward her and Leon. "Oh look, there they all are now."

"What are you doing here, Leon?" Ulrich spat, walking to stand next to Alice and glaring at him.

"I've come to get my girl back. You're the one that stole from me," he stated, giving Ulrich an equally icy glare.

"Alice isn't your property," he told Leon, holding Alice tighter to him.

"You better back off, buddy," Odd stated, his hands on his hips.

"We know how to whoop some major ass," Ulrich confirmed, looking over to Odd and Yumi.

"Except for Jeremie, but he's good with computers and could take you down in chess any day!" Odd exclaimed with a huge grin.

"Odd, why don't you just close your mouth…" Sissi suggested calmly.

"Not cool, Elizabeth," he stated with a mock-pouty face.

She rolled her eyes at the same time that Leon grabbed Alice's arm.

"Get off her…" Ulrich said through gritted teeth.

"Ulrich, you can't get in any more trouble, remember…?" Alice asked as she tried to jerk her arm away, but couldn't.

"I'll say it again, wannabe badass. Alice. Is. Mine," Leon stated, pulling her behind him.

Ulrich clenched his fist and punched Leon square in the jaw. "And I said she's not yours. Alice isn't someone's property, jackass."

"Insult his mom!" Odd yelled enthusiastically.

"You're lucky that everyone else is in the gym, Odd…" Jeremie said quietly.

"You know you really need to learn your place… Do you know where that is?" Leon asked, pulling Alice behind him so he could face fully toward Ulrich.

Ulrich looked around at Alice and gave her a pleading look. He knew that she knew what he meant and hoped that it would give the both of them enough time to get away from Leon. He quickly glanced over at Jeremie before saying, "You don't seem to know your place. You're trespassing, so I can't get in trouble for this." He said with a smile. He winked at Alice as he aimed a kick between Leon's legs.

-Aelita-

She covered in mouth in surprise as Leon screamed and fell to the floor and Alice and Ulrich ran down the hall. "Someone should go get Jim…"

"Not until I get to make fun of him!" Odd exclaimed, walking toward the hunched over Leon.

"Odd…" Yumi sighed as she walked down the hall, away from where Ulrich and Alice had run, to go to the gymnasium to get Jim.

Aelita laughed and shook her head. Stepping around Leon she went to go and tell Alice and Ulrich that everything was okay and that they could come back. Jeremie had wanted to talk to them both anyway to see if they were sticking to their promises.

"Are you sure…?" she heard Ulrich asked in a hushed tone.

"Not 100% positive, but pretty damn close… Ulrich, I'm scared… Especially with Leon around… You can't go around picking fights or Delmas will kick you out…" Alice whispered even lower.

"I know… We'll figure something out, but for now you need to go to the doctor and make sure…" he told her as Aelita peeked around the corner and saw the two hug. She silently took a few steps back and made a show of walking up toward the two.

"Yumi went to go get Jim and Leon's still on the ground. Oh, and Jeremie wanted to talk to you both," she explained with a small smile.

"Thanks Aelita. Help me remember to talk to Jim later about making sure that he doesn't have an easy time getting onto school grounds next time…" Ulrich mumbled as he kissed Alice's temple and walked toward where Jeremie was.

(*)(*)(*)(*) Later That Day (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Leon-

He kicked a trashcan over with his shoe. "Damnit! Why won't she listen to me?" He knew that he'd screwed up. Even inviting that stupid Ulrich Stern to that one party was a mistake. If he hadn't then Alice wouldn't have gotten the crazy idea to leave him. His life definitely wasn't fair. If things had gone his way then Alice would be in America with him and Ulrich Stern wouldn't even be around.

When another trashcan fell without him kicking it he turned in just enough time to see a cloud of black smoke coming toward him…

_**A/N: Well, Alice told Ulrich and we'll find out next chapter. XD She'll probably find out that it isn't true, but they'll be more careful next time. XD Umm… Next chapter may be a 2,000 word one. =3 Oh! And you'll find out more about what Leon meant here at the end and what happened (though I bet you all could guess)**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	24. Help

_**Help**_

_** A/N: I didn't get this out yesterday because of my finger. XD My left hand ring finger's nail was torn yesterday. Farther down than normal. So it bled. And when I typed it hurts a bit. =3 Anyway, you don't want to know about my issues, right?**_

_** To the story!**_

"I call strike against General No Fun!" Sissi exclaimed as she flopped down on Odd's bed and closed her eyes.

Ulrich looked over and chuckled as Odd sat down in the desk chair.

"You're finally getting better at fighting, though!" Odd exclaimed. "You nearly beat Yumi!"

"Though, you'll never ever beat Yumi and we all know it," Ulrich added as he put his book down beside him and stood up. "I'm going to go check up on Alice. I'll see you at dinner."

Odd nodded and began talking excitedly to Sissi.

As Ulrich made his way through the halls he spotted Leon smoking. He turned the other way hoping that Leon hadn't seen him. No such luck.

"Hey Ulrich," he stated coolly as he took a puff of the joint he was holding.

Ulrich spun around and nodded. "You know Jim is going to catch you and you'll get thrown off school property. He'll probably call the cops since you've got marijuana."

"I'm not scared of a fat man, Ulrich. I could get away in enough time to make it look like you're the one smoking," he stated as he walked over to Ulrich and looked him in the eye.

"What do you want, Xana?" he asked harshly, saying the name as if it were poison after seeing the sign in Leon's eyes.

"I want to win," he stated, blowing some of the excess smoke into Ulrich's face. "I know you want some… So, I have a proposition for you so that we both win…"

Ulrich bit his lip and looked the other way. He was being tested…

"Kids are going to start smelling this thing and wonder what it is and see you here with it… Then what'll you do? Ask your computer nerd to make me stronger? That would be very kind of you, but it's not what I'm looking for…"

"Then what are you looking for? Huh? You've already gotten William, what else do you need?"

"I'm offering you instant detox for one little favor… You could smoke and do whatever and then instantly detox so no one would know…"

Ulrich's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly covered his expression with one of boredom as he thought it over… A week and he didn't have enough willpower to resist the temptation of the drug that Xana was giving to him… How had Xana figured out that he had a drug problem, anyway? "What do you want from me?"

"All you have to do is keep one of your friends busy. You and one other out of the fight against me and I'll keep my end even if I lose… Deal?"

-Alice-

She frowned at herself in the mirror as her thoughts turned to Ulrich. He was supposed to meet her here thirty minutes ago to go and see a doctor about whether or not she was pregnant. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to be or not… Though, if she was then it was a lot more incentive for the two to lay off the drugs.

"Alice, is Ulrich with you?" Odd asked as he burst through her door, clearly out of breath.

"Does it look like he's here?" she asked impatiently, hands on her hips.

Odd quickly looked around and shook his head.

"He isn't here and he was supposed to be here thirty minutes ago," she huffed, arms folding across her chest.

"Darn… Listen, if you see him tell him to meet us at the usual place because the thing is happening, 'kay?" Odd asked running off before Alice could so much as comprehend what the blonde had meant.

-Aelita-

"Neither Yumi nor Ulrich is picking up their phone. I'm getting worried, Jeremie," she whispered as the two made their way to the Factory, ahead of Odd and Sissi.

"Me too. This won't be easy for you, Odd, and Sissi to do without Yumi or Ulrich…" he replied, climbing down the ladder.

"I think that now would qualify as one of your special emergency situations where you come to Lyoko, too. You've gotten decent at fighting with all the training sessions with Sissi and the last time that you rode on the Overbike or Overwing you didn't crash or fall off," she said, trying to get the blonde optimistic and wanting to go to Lyoko.

"We'll see what's happening on Lyoko when we get there and then I'll make my decision," he told her as he grabbed his scooter.

-Odd-

"This isn't going to go well…" Odd mumbled as he tried to find Sissi. He'd told her to wait in his and Ulrich's room because he wanted to search before they headed to the Factory, but she'd sneaked off and he couldn't find her. Calling her mobile had been a failed attempt, too.

"Odd," he heard someone whisper behind him, which made him jump. "You're such a scared-y cat."

Odd spun around to face Sissi. "Why weren't you in the bedroom?"

"I got thirsty and went to get a bottle of water," she stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "So, are we going to the Factory or we just going to stand here and let Mr. and Mrs. Einstein handle this one by themselves?"

"I really don't think that those two could handle a Xana attack by themselves considering that with you, me, Aelita, Yumi, and Ulrich we still have a bit of trouble," he stated as he walked toward the stairs to get out of the dorms.

"I guess your right… I'd be amazed if they were able to do it by themselves… Though, with Jeremie being as strong as he is on Lyoko I wouldn't be all that surprised," she said.

"Sissi, go look around for Ulrich. With those two missing I bet you anything that Jeremie will come to Lyoko with me and Aelita. We'll handle it while you look for them and let us know if you see anything strange. We need to know what Xana has planned for this time," he stated as the made it out of the school building.

"Alright, just try to keep me updated. Have Jeremie set it up so that I can call and find out what's going on."

-Alice-

"Ulrich… Pick up…" she whispered as she tried calling him for the billionth time as she waited in the doctor's office.

Ulrich was in pain… Something was bothering him… She could feel it deep down inside herself…

Alice bit her lip and stood up, leaving the waiting room before her name was called. She'd set up another appointment. Right now, Ulrich needed her.

-Ulrich-

Ulrich grunted each time his foot or hand connected with the wall in front of him. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Drugs kill brain cells, genius," Yumi shot, glaring at the brunette.

"Shut up! Just don't talk to me!" he shouted, punching the wall again and cutting his knuckles open.

"Why Ulrich? Everyone was right about you! As soon as you were given the chance you went right back to the drugs!"

"Fine! Kill me, huh? Grab one of those rocks at your feet! Throw 'em at me till I bleed to death! I don't want to be here anymore!" he shouted, throwing a rock at the ground to stop himself from pounding his fist against the wall of the cave the two were stuck in. "I'm sorry if addiction is a bitch and I can't just sit around and hold myself back from it after only a week!"

"You don't know a thing about me, get it? Don't sit there and judge me for everything that I've done! I already know I'm a piece of shit, okay?" He leaned up against the wall and slide down, hiding his face as tears fell. "I'm a piece of shit that should just be off the face of the Earth… I've let everyone that I know down…"

-Yumi-

She looked at Ulrich as he body shook with the force of the sobs she knew that he was holding back. He was right… She didn't know a thing about him… "Ulrich, I'm sorry… We're not going to leave you just because you screwed up once… Like you said, drugs are highly addictive… It was bound to happen and you'll eventually be able to resist that temptation…"

Ulrich shook his head. "You're just trying to get me to shut up… I know the routine by now… I mess up, parents get disappointed, anyone that tried to help gets disappointed, and then everyone leaves me and I'm alone and I do drugs again… I can't do it anymore, Yumi… I've let everyone down… I promised myself that I wouldn't do this again, Yumi… I kept myself up at night just repeating over and over again that I wouldn't do that again… I wouldn't keep this cycle going and going… I'm a failure, Yumi… I'm just going to ruin everything that I ever try to do…"

"Ulrich, what happened to that determined kid? The one that fought Xana with us and still managed to pass almost all of his classes. The kid that was our samurai on Lyoko and that never gave up without a fight. What happened to that Ulrich? He would have never have given up this easily," She stated as she moved to sit next to him.

"I don't know where that Ulrich went…"

"I bet I do… He left because you pushed that side of yourself away… He's still there… You just have to believe that, huh?"

-Alice-

She sat on her bed and hugged her knees. It was starting to get dark and the worry was eating at her. Each time she tried calling him it went straight to voicemail. She didn't believe that he was cheating on her, but she knew that something was up…

_**A/N: Not as long as 2,000, but it a good place to stop. XD I'll have more of Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd next chapter for you guys! X3 I'm sooooo sorry for not updating yesterday, but I deserve a break, y'know. XD Anyway, I think that I'm going to do a crack fic that's just going to be a behind the scenes of the Lyoko Warriors during the show and during my fics. It'll be decently short, though, so I'll get to my other more serious fics. X3**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	25. Mixed Feelings

_**Mixed Feelings**_

_** A/N: No long author's note this time. XD I know that some of you don't read them. XD Anyway, this is still a continuation from the last chapter. XD What do you think about Alice's predicament? Baby or no? I'm curious. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

Alice sucked in her breath and hit the call button. She had to talk to Jeremie and find out what was gong on…

"Alice, I really can't talk right now. I'm a bit busy. Can you call back later?" Jeremie's panicked voice replied shakily, a shooting sound from the background.

"Take that!" she heard Odd yell.

"No, I can't call back later. I'm tired of all this. I want Ulrich back and I want to know where you all disappear to all the time. Ulrich's in trouble, Jeremie. I know it. I can feel it… He's hurting," she stated into the phone, ignoring all the strange sounds. She assumed it was a video game.

"We have no idea where he is, Alice. We were looking for him too, if you don't remember. Alice, listen, I have to go. I'll call you back when I get the chance. Bye," he told her hanging up.

Alice let loose an aggravated sigh and stomped her foot. She hated how they weren't telling her things. Ulrich was in pain! He was hurting! And they were keeping secrets from her.

-Ulrich-

"I've always been and will always be some sort of failure… I failed my parents, I've failed my best friends, and I know I've failed Alice, too… You hear me, Xana? Just kill me now!" he shouted, lifting his head up only long enough to look down the tunnel to shout toward Leon.

"Ulrich, you know you don't mean that… You haven't failed Alice. You may have failed us before, but you came back to make-up for that… That's the Ulrich I want to see. The one that came back to us, the one that fights on Lyoko…"

"I'm afraid…" he whispered almost inaudibly.

"Of…?" she asked, scooting closer in case he whispered again.

"Everything… I became this druggy alcoholic with an attitude problem… What are people going to think of me…? My parents already think I'm a failure…" he whispered even lower.

-Jeremie-

"Keep circling from the air, Odd!" Jeremie shouted up to Odd as he tapped the blue watch that sat on his wrist. A small version of the supercomputer screen appeared and he called Sissi. (A/N: Again, use your imaginations with his outfit. XD)

"Hey, I think I might have found Ulrich and Yumi… Some kids said that they saw Ulrich and Yumi walk off with that Leon kid. They walked toward the beach (a/n: Let's pretend there's a beach nearby, 'kay? Since we really don't know… XD)," she said as soon as she picked up the phone.

"Be quick. Odd, Aelita, and I are doing alright, but we could really use your help," Jeremie told her as two megatanks rolled up. "Xana's fighting really hard this time and I bet you it's because it knows it might win with only three of us here… But it didn't plan on me being here…"

"Jeremie! You're needed over here!" Aelita shouted as she shot off an energy field in an attempt to keep the six krabs in front of her at bay.

"Okay, I'll try to get closer and see if I can get Ulrich and Yumi out. Call if you need me," she stated as she hung up.

-Yumi-

She knew that Ulrich didn't like sharing how he was feeling and was happy that he was telling her now… "Ulrich… You don't have to be-"

"That took awhile," Leon said as he walked to where the two were. "Yes, Ulrich, you're a failure. You don't belong on Earth. You were a mistake. Trust me, not even your parents want you around anymore." As he talked he walked over to where the two sat and took Yumi by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "She doesn't care. She just wants the old you back for her own selfishness."

Yumi attempted to pull her arm free to no avail. By himself Leon was pretty strong and a Xanafied Leon would win hands down in any kind of fight. No matter how strong she was. "Ulrich, that isn't true! If your parents didn't want you they wouldn't have tried to help you at all! They would have let you die!" she didn't know why she was shouting, but it seemed to help a small bit.

Leon covered Yumi's mouth. "Are you going to believe her or me? I haven't done a thing to you, Ulrich. You stopped fighting me and I stopped attacking you… I haven't attacked your family or Alice… These guys have hurt you. They kept bothering you. Did you tell them they were the reason you started the drugs in the first place?"

"H-How do you know-?" Ulrich began, his voice shaking.

"How do I know all this? I might let you know someday," he replied as he walked off with Yumi.

Yumi twisted herself around to face Ulrich and saw him hide his face again. He was hurting really bad and there was nothing she could do…

-Sissi-

She watched Leon leave the cave, dragging Yumi along toward the woods, and as soon as he was far enough away she dashed into the cave.

"Go away… I'll just die in this cave by myself, okay? You already took Yumi so why don't you just leave me alone… I know I'm a failure…" Ulrich whispered as she got close enough for him to hear her walking.

"You're not a failure," she stated forcefully, her hands on her hips.

"I let you guys down and-" he started with a sigh.

"Get up. Right now," she demanded, glaring down at the brunette.

"Sissi, I'm not in the mood for-"

"I said now!" she shouted, her voice reverberating off the cave walls.

"You're not-"

"Ulrich Stern, you get your butt off that cave floor right now!"

She saw the clear fear on his face as he quickly stumbled to push himself off the floor. Her voice had gotten screechy and it bouncing off the walls didn't sound much better. "Sissi, I-"

"You and I are going to get Yumi back. Now, I demand that you stop sulking. And quit with the whole self-pity thing. If you want people to not see you as how you were before and see you as you were back when you were at Kadic before you left and now then act like it! Go save Yumi!"

_**A/N: I'm sorry! I know this chapter probably sucks… : ( I wrote most of it when I was tired and reading this fic that's funny, but the writing style isn't the best and normally when I read those while writing my writing is crap… -_-""" sorry… D:**_

_** Read and review! (please)**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	26. Truth

_**Truth**_

_** A/N: Okay, so it didn't suck as much as I thought. XD I'm excited. XD Two of my siblings are leaving to go on sleepovers and we might get pizza for dinner! Oh, my sister wants me to ask you guys to check out her profile… It's called DragonsOftheMind, If I remember correctly. XD she's going to be doing more fics that have to deal with internal conflict. XD**_

_** Well, to the story!**_

Ulrich followed after Sissi, still in apparently shock. This was the first time since forever that she'd stood up to him like that. "Sissi, I'm sorry…"

"Don't talk to me until we've got Yumi back, got it? And even then you're going to get an earful from me after the stunts that you've pulled today. Ulrich, others may think that you're a failure, but none of us do. You're only human and you're going to make mistakes," she stated, turning around to face the brunette. "We need you on Lyoko."

Ulrich gave her a short nod, smiling a bit. "Thanks for this, Sissi…"

"Don't thank me yet," she stated as the two walked through the heavily wooded area. "I'll bet he's going to take her to the Factory. That or toss her somewhere. It's easy to tell that he wants you both dead. He left you in the cave thinking that no one was coming for you and you'd end up starving to death. Check your phone. There are probably a bunch of calls from everyone and you didn't get reception in that cave."

As the maneuvered their way through the forest Ulrich pulled his phone from his pocket and made the screen light up, showing that he had 10 messages from Aelita, 5 messages from Jeremie, 3 from Sissi and Odd, 15 messages from Alice, and 15 missed calls. 10 were Alice asking him where he was and the other five were the other Lyoko Warriors asking where he and Yumi were. "Sissi, do you mind if I call Alice and tell her I'm alright?"

"Didn't I tell you not to talk? Text it to her, okay? We can't bring to Xana's attention that we're following or he'll lead us off track and make a false trail for us to follow. It's happened before," Sissi snapped as they walked.

Ulrich did as she said and continued running as he quickly typed out to Alice that he was fine and he'd explain to her soon. Her replied disheartened him. 'I'll be expecting an answer from you or we're through, Ulrich.'

"Come on!" Sissi whisper-yelled as she caught sight of Leon.

-Yumi-

She sighed as she was jerked here and there by Leon's running. She'd given up getting information from him a few minutes ago and focused more on looking to see if anyone was following them and figuring out where she was being taken.

She knew that for the longest amount of time that Xana had had it out for her and Ulrich. He'd gotten Ulrich to think that he was helping him and then Ulrich had brought her to Leon. Leon forced Ulrich to mess with some stuff on Lyoko and then had knocked the two out and they'd ended up in the cave. Right now Ulrich was probably moping in the cave by himself and she was being taken who knew where probably to face her death as well. They both could at least rely upon Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, and Sissi who were probably on Lyoko at that moment, but she didn't know how long any of them would last…

She almost fell off Leon's shoulder as he abruptly stopped and spun around.

"I know you're both there so you might as well come out!" Leon yelled toward the forest that they'd just left.

_Both? _She thought as she saw Ulrich step out from behind the trees.

-Ulrich-

He took a deep breath as he walked toward the xanafied Leon, Sissi following closely behind him.

"If isn't the failure coming to try and save her," he sneered.

"Shut the hell up, Xana. You're not going to get to me again," he said as he stopped near Leon.

"Oh? Do you really think you're going to get the girl after I already almost had you once? If that one," he stated pointing toward Sissi, "hadn't shown up you'd still be in that cave moping. Wouldn't you? Don't deny the truth."

"There are things that you're never going to understand, Xana," he spit.

"I understand enough to bring you to your knees. I understand that your parents have given up on you. That's why they dumped you off at Kadic again. If the school failed in changing you then you'd end up in a juvenile detention center and then where? Not back to them. They were counting on one of the two. You can't seem to help your friends properly, you can't tell your girlfriend or them the truth, and you may end up having to chose between being one of the fighters against me on Lyoko or that idiotic girlfriend of yours. If I was you I'd choose the girlfriend. She could be pregnant with your child, you know. Though, you'll probably fail as a father, too."

"Ulrich, what's he talking about?" Yumi asked as Leon shifted her position again.

"Perfect, you haven't told them. You're just too afraid of the truth, aren't you? You can't grasp the fact that you're worthless."

His mind raced. How could Xana know all these things…? What could he have hacked to get this information without attracting their attention? He held his head as he realized the truth of Xana's words.

"You're pretty worthless for a human. You can't help your friends or girlfriend, you can't make your parents proud, and your just all around good at nothing."

"Ulrich, you know that's not true," Yumi told him, suffering a forceful shake from Leon after she spoke.

"Shut up, girl," Leon stated.

"You're good at soccer and you wouldn't just let your friends die without helping them. You're great at martial arts and you're just an all around nice guy. You have someone who loves you and you have friends that care about you. We wouldn't have let you go back to juvy. Don't listen to him, Ulrich," Sissi said from behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder in a supporting manner.

Ulrich shook his head as he remembered the night of the first party he'd attended. The stress his friends had put on him was the reason he'd started smoking cigarettes… From there it went to beer, vodka, and other such things and then to things like marijuana and other drugs. All of it started because they'd put him under so much stress… He knew he had to change… Starting with the truth… "He's right… I'm hiding from the truth that I can't bear to tell you… I couldn't bear to tell you because I knew that it would hurt everyone… I-I… I'm sorry…"

"Oh well…" Leon stated as he grabbed up Yumi and tossed her aside. "You're all too late now… You're going to be too late to save your other friends from their demise! I'll be sure to tell them that you were the one that helped me, Ulrich."

Ulrich bit his lip as he ran off, faster than any of them could have predicted and too fast to catch up with.

"You can tell us what he meant after we save the others," Sissi stated quickly as she moved to Yumi's side, helping her up.

"I have to tell you guys now… I can't just pretend that everything is okay when you guys don't know… I started doing drugs because of the stress that you all kept putting on me… Every time I'd get to a good time in my life where things were going alright and my grades were great one of you would call and it would ruin it… My mood would drop and my grades would slip and my sports performance would slip and I couldn't concentrate… For the longest time I always blamed all of you for what happened to me… It slips into my mind occasionally and I can't keep lying… To myself and to you guys…"

"Ulrich, our friends need us…" Sissi whispered as she came up beside him to hug him.

"It's alright, Ulrich…" Yumi said walking over to him and hugging him from the other side. "We're all going to be alright… Telling us that that was the way you felt was what you should have done in the first place and maybe we wouldn't be in this mess, though…"

"I know…"

"Let's go save the others, then," Sissi stated as she stood up and dusted the dirt from her hands.

_**A/N: Aha! The next chapter should be the last of the Xana attack and then more than likely the destruction of Xana. All in one chapter. XD There'll also be Alice being told the truth, Ulrich telling the others the truth, and some other stuff I thought of, but already forgot. XD It'll come back to me. XD**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~Moonlitxangel**_


	27. Countdown

_**Countdown**_

_** A/N: I'm thinking this one or the next one will be the last one. =3 Not sure yet. XD Oh, and I lied. XD DragonsOftheMind isn't really my sister. XD though I do see her as one. XD If anyone has any questions PM me or ask in your reviews and I'll reply to them through review reply (if I can) and here if I can't. that means you, IAmUlrichStern. XD**_

_**IAmUlrichStern: Well, I haven't decided if she's pregnant or not. XD Probably not, because if that's the case I see no good outcomes. XD**_

_** To the story!**_

Ulrich ran behind the girls as he was lost in thought. Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd weren't going to be happy about what Xana was about to cause… It could have easily done it itself, but it wanted to force Ulrich to feel worse about everything. He couldn't let Xana have that satisfaction, but-

"Ulrich, you okay?" Yumi asked as the three stopped on the bridge.

Ulrich shook his head and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I'll tell you later. We need to go help the others first."

"What exactly is Xana trying to do?" Sissi asked from in front of the two.

"He set a virus in the supercomputer that, when it's downloaded, will destroy Lyoko. Xana is already hidden away so that it won't get destroyed and Aelita and Jeremie have no idea," Ulrich replied quickly before Yumi could say anything. "As far as I can tell Xana was going to have Yumi activate it, it seemed to me. When we stopped Leon it probably ran here to start the download itself."

"Oh… So we need to get there to get rid of that virus… Any clue how we're going to do that?" Sissi asked as they made their way toward the Factory again.

"We'll see if Jeremie can handle it. Or at least help us get rid of the virus…" Yumi said looking over worriedly at Ulrich.

"I'm fine, Yumi. Quit giving me that look," Ulrich said as he looked away from the two and back behind them.

"Let's just go," Sissi told the two, pulling them along in front of her.

(*)(*)(*)(*) In the Factory (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Yumi-

She looked toward Ulrich again and saw a flicker of pain cross his face before he covered it up again. For now she knew she needed to focus on that virus, but couldn't help worrying about Ulrich…

"Jeremie. Ulrich, Yumi, and I are here in the Factory. What's going on?" Sissi asked as she took the seat in front of the supercomputer.

Yumi and Ulrich walked over to either side of the chair.

"We're fighting the monsters that Xana keeps coming. We haven't gotten to get near the tower yet. Have Yumi transfer Ulrich and you here," he told her.

"Right now we've got something more pressing to worry about… Listen, Ulrich said that when Xana got ahold of him and Yumi that it made Leon put a virus on the supercomputer. He's already started downloading it and when it's finished it will destroy Lyoko. Apparently Xana's already hidden away on the NET so we need to either stop the download process, and hitting the 'x' button in the corner won't work, or we need to get you, Aelita, and Odd out of there so that you're not destroyed along with it," she told him.

Yumi saw Ulrich messing with the ring that sat on his lip and knew that what Xana made him do was bothering him.

"Sissi, give Yumi the controls. I can't pull up the supercomputer interface on my watch. I need Ulrich and you here now. The virus may stop downloading once we de-activate the tower. If it gets to the last moments of the download then we'll all leave, but we're going to fight," he commanded.

Yumi was impressed with the authority in his voice and switched spots with Sissi. After virtualizing the two she said, "Now what, Jeremie?"

"Aelita's going to devirtualize me and then you and I are going to work on stopping the virus. Between you, me, and Aelita we should be able to stop while everyone fights on Lyoko. You're going to be there in case Leon shows back up, too," he stated as Yumi heard some lasers firing in the background.

-Ulrich-

_I'm going to do this and we're going to win… If they end up hating me then I'll tell them that I'm the one that saved them… _He thought as he brought his katana upon a Krab's head.

"Nice shot, buddy!" Odd shouted from above them. He was their aerial combatant. He was shooting whatever he could from above. Sissi was staying on the ground for now so that she could help Ulrich more and Aelita was helping wherever she could. They'd gotten rid of the hornets so it was safe for her to switch between flying and running around on the ground.

Ulrich nodded and continued trying to cut through the ranks of monsters. "Why doesn't Aelita just fly over there?" he shouted.

"There are monsters behind the tower waiting for her if she gets too close and megatanks aren't that easily gotten rid of from any angle. They're a lot stronger than they used to be, Ulrich," Jeremie told him, the faint tapping of keys clear in the background.

"Then you should have sent Yumi here. She could beat me in a fight on Lyoko and you know-" he began as Sissi ran over and smacked him upside the head.

"Don't question Jeremie's plan. You're faster than Yumi and close combat sometimes works better than long range. You're the only person in the team that only has weapons designed for close combat. Plus, saying you couldn't beat Yumi isn't a big deal. No one can beat Yumi. Except for William and multiple monsters, but that isn't the point," she huffed as she threw her baton and destroyed one monster out of luck.

"How is me being faster anything?" he asked as he defended himself against the Krab that had come to attack him.

"You can get places quicker to help someone. Plus you can triplicate. Yumi is one person, but you can be three. I thought you guys would be alright without my direction. Sissi, get up in the air with Odd and try to shoot down monsters to make a path. Ulrich, use your triplicate and surround Aelita and walk her through the monsters. Aelita, help Ulrich to know down as many monsters as you can. Sissi and Odd shooting them from above should help out a lot. And hurry. We have five minutes until the virus is fully downloaded," he told them quickly.

Odd quickly zoomed down to the ground from the Overboard and picked up Sissi.

"C'mon Princess, let's get this over with…" Ulrich said extending his hand out to her.

She took it and after she was behind him he used his triplicate and the they fought their way through the horde of monsters.

(*)(*)(*)(*) A Few Minutes of This Later (*)(*)(*)(*)

"Jeremie, we're not going to be able to defeat those three megatanks in enough time!" Odd exclaimed after they'd finally cleared the way to the tower.

"You don't have to defeat them, Odd! I can't stop the virus download and you have two minutes until it's good-bye Lyoko! Yumi's here fighting Leon and he keeps trying to get me over there," Jeremie replied frantically, his typing increasing in speed.

"Jeremie, devirtualize everyone except for Aelita and me," Ulrich said as he fought to defeat a megatank. "I can do it."

"Ulrich, that's suicide and you know it," he retorted harshly.

"There would still be four of us on Lyoko. If Lyoko is destroyed you'd only lose me. I'd devirtualize Aelita before Lyoko was completely destroyed. It works by erasing Lyoko bit by bit. That virus will make it so that you can't re-make Lyoko. It renders the supercomputer unable to be used after it completely destroys Lyoko. We don't have time to fight over this!" he shouted as he destroyed the megatank in front of him.

"I trust Ulrich, Jeremie," Aelita said softly.

-Yumi-

"What's he thinking? He can't do it by himself!" she shouted to Jeremie as she fought Leon. He was gaining ground on her and he'd beat her soon.

"I'm going to let him try. It's likely to work…" Jeremie whispered as he devirtualized Sissi and Odd.

Yumi growled as a smirk crossed Leon's face. He had something up his sleeve and Yumi didn't like it…

"What'd you do that for, Einstein?" Odd asked as they got to the computer lab.

"There's thirty more seconds…" Sissi said anxiously.

"Aelita's in the tower!" Jeremie shouted as he continued to type furiously. "I'm going to run a return to the past and see if any damage caused will can be avoided…"

_Aelita…_

_**0:03**_

_Code…_

_**0:01**_

_Lyoko…_

_**0:00**_

_** A/N: You guys can guess that the italicized stuff is the interface of the thing at the tower. The bold and italicized stuff is the countdown timer for the completion of the download of the virus. xD So, we'll see how far the RTTP (return to the past) will go and see if Aelita and Ulrich are still there… XD I'm evil, huh?**_

_** Read and review!**_

_** Chapter dedicated to Taffioka because she was the 100**__**th**__** reviewer! *claps* Or maybe Kilo'E'Prowlers… No idea… XD It's one of the two, though. XD**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


	28. Moving Forward

_**Moving Forward**_

_** A/N: Left you all with quite the cliffhanger there, huh? XD I'm excited for this chapter. =3 Depending on how long they want to talk it'll either be over this chapter or tomorrow. =3**_

_** To the story!**_

"Where could he have gone?" Aelita asked Jeremie from his bed, her laptop on her lap.

"I don't know. Odd, Yumi, and Sissi said that they've looked everywhere in the school for him and no one can find Alice either. Do you know where she was at at this point in time last time?" Jeremie asked, spinning around in his chair. "I've searched everywhere on Lyoko. Lyoko is fine so why isn't he?"

"I'm not sure… Ulrich was a bit farther away from the tower, so he could have been knocked off the edge or something," she suggested as she ran another sweep of Lyoko for herself.

Jeremie shook his head. "That isn't possible unless Xana hid his monsters from us again. The countdown hit zero at the same time that the tower was deactivated and it would still take the virus a few seconds to activate."

Aelita bit her lip in thought and nodded. The whole thing was really hard for all of them to comprehend. Ulrich had just disappeared without a trance…

"Don't worry, Aelita… He's out there somewhere…" Jeremie told her, going over to sit next to her.

"I just hope that we find him soon. Yumi told me that he seemed a bit off when you guys were in the Factory. He seemed a bit distracted about something on Lyoko, too…"

"Well, he'd have to be here for us to be able to ask him."

Aelita nodded and then put her laptop down. "C'mon, let's go get some lunch and then we'll head to the Factory and keep up our search there.

(*)(*)(*)(*) Cafeteria (*)(*)(*)(*)

"Here Jeremie, you can have my food… I'm really not all that hungry…" Odd muttered, shoving his tray in Jeremie's direction and resting his chin on the table.

"Odd, you need to eat something," Aelita stated as she sat down with her tray.

"I'm not hungry," he stated again with a sigh.

"Yumi said she'd be here soon. She's running a bit late from class," Sissi said as she walked up.

"Hey Jeremie, how easy is it to steer the Skid?" Odd asked as he quickly raised his head.

"Yumi did it easily enough without too much explanation from me. I'd have to say that it's relatively easy to do compared to everything else that has to be done with the supercomputer. Why?"

"Well… Yumi said that he was feeling bad about everything that's happened and he wanted to make it up to us and we know that Xana is somewhere on the NET, right? Well, maybe he decided to go and try to find Xana. Or maybe he already knew where Xana was…" he stated, his voice getting more and more excited sounding.

"You think he took the Skid and was able to find Xana?" Jeremie asked, grabbing his laptop from his bag and typing.

"Well, it's pretty logical that he'd do that, don't you think?" Aelita asked, turning to face him as she ate quickly.

"Odd, you're a genius," Jeremie stated as he closed his laptop and packed it away. "You guys eat and meet me at the Factory with Yumi after lunch. I'm going to try and talk some sense into Ulrich."

"Jeremie, you don't think that Ulrich told Alice and that's where she is, right…?" Sissi asked before he left.

"He just might have… He was really upset after he talked to Alice, remember?" Yumi asked as she walked up.

"Yeah, I looked over at his phone when he wasn't looking and she said something along the lines of 'you'd better tell me what's going on or we're through'. He probably assumed she was getting paranoid about us going to Lyoko so much and wondering where he was going…" Sissi added.

"If he told her he'd better have not taken her to Lyoko with him. She could end up in a lot of trouble…" he said as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

-Alice-

"Ulrich, there are monsters headed your way," she stated into the microphone. The whole situation was freaking her out, but she'd always been pretty good with computers. She wasn't as good as Jeremie and Aelita, but she was good enough to do this…

"Yeah, I noticed that they were tailing me. I'm almost to where I need to be. Now, if Jeremie or anyone else shows up tell them what's going on. Let Jeremie take the controls if he tells you to give them over," he commanded as the small blip that she knew was Ulrich moved across the screen.

"And you're sure that this Xana thing won't capture you since you didn't exactly tell the truth?"

"Alice, Xana is unpredictable. He's got William though, so I doubt he'd do anything other than throw me into the Digital Sea and I'm pretty sure Jeremie would be able to get me back. I'm confident in his abilities. Tell me if William shows up anywhere on the screen. If he does use my phone and call Jeremie if he doesn't show up by that point because no one has ever beat him by themselves."

"Well, someone is coming here through the elevator."

"It's got a passcode, so it's one of our friends. If I had to guess it's Jeremie. Just tell him what's going on and see what he wants to do. Just make sure that you stress the fact that the virus is somewhat affecting me and that I think I can destroy Xana with it. I've only got a certain amount of time, though."

"Alright, just be careful, okay?" she asked as she spun around to see a not so happy Jeremie standing in the elevator.

"What are you doing?" he asked walking over and motioning for her to get out of the seat.

She did so and then replied, "Ulrich called me and told me that he needed my help. He wanted to do something to make up everything to you guys. Before I started dating Leon I was really good with computers and so I've been manning the supercomputer while Ulrich went after Xana. Ulrich said that the virus that was downloading before somehow affected him and now he can't leave Lyoko. He's trying to find Xana to see if he can pass the virus on to Xana and destroy it. You'd have to find some way to administer it to Xana, though, right?"

Jeremie nodded. "Ulrich, you should have just called me. You know how I don't like people touching the supercomputer unless I know everything I have set-up will be alright."

"I trust Alice. She didn't mess with anything that I didn't tell her she needed to use and she really was pretty good with computers before. I'd say her ability is somewhere between Yumi's and yours. Anyway, right now I'm headed to where Xana is so if you could get to work on something to transfer the virus from me to Xana then it would be appreciated."

Jeremie took a deep breath and started typing. "You know I've always got something up my sleeve."

-Yumi-

"Do you think that Ulrich is alright wherever he is?" she asked Odd as the four teens walked toward the forest entry to the sewers.

"Trust me, he's fine," Odd said as he rest his hands behind his head and continued walking. "It's Ulrich we're talking about. The kid that came back after his body and mind were split."

"This is different, Odd," Aelita stated as the lifted up the cover of the hole.

"Yeah, yeah. Just trying to keep morale up," he stated with a sigh as he climbed down followed by Yumi and Aelita.

"Odd's probably right. I'm freaking out over nothing," Yumi said as they spend toward the Factory.

(*)(*)(*)(*) Factory (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Aelita-

"Jeremie, you need to send us so that we can help," she stated calmly.

They'd been there a total of five minutes and he was telling them that Ulrich was going to do this by himself.

"Aelita, he has that virus that was going to destroy Lyoko in his code. He can't come back, but he's also a lot stronger. He'll be fine by himself there. Plus, he wants to prove himself to us. He wants to show that he's sorry for the things that have happened and that he can beat Xana, too," he explained almost as calmly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but he's right Aelita. Plus, the virus in his coding could spread to the rest of you and then where would you be? None of you would be able to come back here and Jeremie would be questioned on your disappearances since he was the last person seen with you all. Ulrich needs to do this by himself and I believe that he can do it if Jeremie can find a way to focus the virus so that Ulrich can transmit it to Xana. It's slowing eating away at Ulrich and sooner or later there won't be an Ulrich unless he gets rid of the virus," Alice stated from the corner. She'd been quiet since they'd gotten there.

"Aelita, they're right. There isn't anything that we can do for him whether we're on Lyoko or not. Nothing will change," Odd stated looking over at Yumi and seeing the evident pain on her face at that fact.

"Hoping and praying is the best we can do," Jeremie added. "I don't want to risk you guys getting the virus just by being near Ulrich. So far, it doesn't seem to have spread to anything, but I'd rather not take chances."

-Ulrich-

"Thanks Jeremie," he said as he drove the Skid toward the designated Replika. "I'm almost to where Xana is. Do you have anything to focus the virus?"

"Right now I'm working on it so that I can have the virus being contracted through your swords. It's almost finished. Should be done by the time that you get there," he replied.

"Jeremie, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry… I've really screwed up. I've continually failed you guys, but I'm going to destroy Xana this time. I'll make it up to you."

"That's in the past, okay? You're still our friend and we've all forgiven you. If you defeat Xana today or not we'll still be on good terms with you."

Ulrich nodded, forgetting that Jeremie couldn't see him then said, "Thanks. Oh, will you ask Alice how the appointment went?"

"Yeah, one second."

Ulrich continued on his way toward the Replika. He was getting nervous about this… If it didn't work out well then he could end up dead. And if the appointment gave Alice positive results then he was leaving behind a kid, too…

"She said that they said she wasn't. What's she mean?" Jeremie asked, ripping Ulrich from his thoughts.

"If you promise not to tell Yumi then I'll tell you. I want to tell everyone else myself," he stated as he turned the Skid so that he could get into the Replika.

"I promise."

"Alice thought that she was pregnant, but now with what you just told me she's not. I'm just glad that we're not going to have that responsibility…"

"Yeah… Anyway, I've got the program up and running. Xana probably has some sort of physical body on Lyoko. Something that can be touched. So, just stab it with your sword and you'll be good."

"It's not going to be that easy, though."

"That's what makes it fun!" he heard Odd shout.

"Odd listening in?" he asked as he docked the Skid and put himself on the Replika.

"Yeah. He didn't hear the part about Alice, though."

"Good," he said as he looked around. It was a Replika of the mountain sector and he knew exactly where Xana was hiding…

(*)(*)(*)(*) Factory (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Alice-

"Jeremie, do you think that Ulrich is going to be alright?" she asked nervously as she walked up to stand beside him and see where Ulrich was.

"Knowing him he'll be just fine. Just because he's a bit rusty doesn't mean he can't kick butt when he needs to. Plus I really doubt he'd be too out of practice with his martial arts," Jeremie replied, looking over at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the computer.

"He practiced all the time. He never went up against decent opponents, though. Most of them were people that wanted to beat him to prove something. Or people that made fun of me," she stated as she watched Ulrich run to the coordinates that Xana had sent them. She reached over a pointed a spot on the screen. "That's where Xana said it would be at when Ulrich was able to contact it."

"Then it doesn't have a symbol on the supercomputer. William is here, too, Jeremie. Do you see him or he's hidden?" Ulrich asked, the small triangle showing Ulrich's location getting closer to the coordinates.

"No, there's no one on the map except for you. Listen, be careful. If you hit William with your sword then we lose him. I'm working on changing it so that the virus will be in one sword and you can use the other one for fighting. It'll take me a minute, though," he stated.

"Oh, well I think they've got some stuff to say so take your time."

(*)(*)(*)(*) Lyoko –Replika- (*)(*)(*)(*)

-Ulrich-

"Two on one just isn't fair," he said as he got close enough for the virus and William to hear.

Xana seemed more like a specter to Ulrich. Its entire body was black with blue eyes that had date flowing through them.

William chuckled and held up his sword.

Xana put a hand on William's shoulder, calming him, and then stepped forward and looked at Ulrich. "I'm the only thing that can get rid of that virus you have."

"That's what I was thinking. See, though, we both have different ways in mind, Xana. You want me to coming willingly over your side so that I'm not a slave like William is and can think on my own, right? Well, I've got stuff to live for on Earth. If you want me then you're going to have to fight for me. And give William back to us," he stated as he unsheathed his swords.

"The left one is good," Jeremie stated simply.

"Oh, you think you can bargain with me?" Xana asked, stepping closer.

"Yeah, I think I can. You can call me worthless or whatever else load of shit that you wanna pull, but I know I'm not worthless. My parents love me no matter what. That's why they sent me back to Kadic. My friends don't care about my past. Nothing that you say can make me fall to my knees and obey you," he sneered, twirling the sword in his left hand.

"I'm already two steps ahead of you, child," Xana stated as it got closer. "There's something that I can offer you that none of your friends could add up to."

"My life? Safety? Enjoyment? Sorry Xana, but I've already got everything I want."

-Aelita-

"And now we're screwed," Jeremie stated as the supercomputer's screen went blank.

"Do you think that something is wrong with the core?" Aelita asked as she looked around to see the worried expressions on her friends' faces.

"I have no idea… Go check it out and then report back. Yumi, go with Odd and Alice and stay around the school. He might try to pull a sly one on us and launch an attack while the supercomputer is dead," he ordered as Aelita made her way down a level.

Jeremie got out of his chair and quickly opened his laptop to see if he could connect to Lyoko that way. No such luck.

A few minutes passed until Aelita came back and shook her head. "I don't see anything wrong with anything down there. Everything should be working perfectly. I'll go see if the scanners are all online. Don't worry, Jeremie…"

"I'll not worry when Ulrich and William are back here safely," he stated tensely as he sat back down in front of the supercomputer and frowned. _Ulrich, you'd better get out of this alive…_

(*)(*)(*)(*) An hour of frustrated ranting on Jeremie's part and uncomfortable silence later (*)(*)(*)(*)

"Jeremie, everything will be fine. Xana probably just didn't want an audience…" Aelita told him as calmed down.

"He wanted us to not be able to interrupt. Sissi and Yumi have seen firsthand how he get when he's near Xana. Xana knows all this stuff about him that Ulrich doesn't want to re-live…" Jeremie explained softly.

"Sissi told him to stop all that self-pity junk. Plus he knows that he's valuable to the team."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just worrying-" he said, cutting off as the supercomputer came back on-line.

Aelita hastily picked up the headset and said, "Ulrich, are you there?"

A few seconds of silence and she was answered with an excited Ulrich. "I did it, Aelita. I beat Xana and William's alright. He went back to normal once I took down Xana. We're headed back to Lyoko to dock the Skid then you can bring us home."

(*)(*)(*)(*) A Few Weeks Later (*)(*)(*)(*)

Things had gotten to a relative normality for the eight teens after Xana's defeat. Ulrich had sat down and told them all the truth behind everything and told everyone about the pregnancy scare. Yumi hadn't been happy about it, but you wouldn't either if you found your still-crush may be having a child with someone else.

With Xana defeated they could spend time on Lyoko just for fun. Yumi hadn't liked the idea in the beginning, but had gotten used to it.

Without the constant threat of a Xana attack Ulrich's grades improved even more and Odd passed at least.

They all knew that everything with the supercomputer and Lyoko would never leave their minds and that it had brought them all to be really great friends in the end. They had to thank Xana for one thing, which Ulrich had.

THE END

_**A/N: In my opinion that little ending bit sucked. XD It needed to be there, though. Now you all can imagine who you want who to be with. XD I prefer to think that Ulrich eventually dumps Alice for Yumi, but that's just me… XD They go together too well. XD Anyway, the first chapter of Disappearance will be up tomorrow. =3 so make sure to read the recap for the people who have read it and haven't read it, too. XD I'm proud of myself. Excluding these author's note I got to over 3,000 words for this chapter. XD Don't you dare start expecting this, though. It was hard. XD**_

_** Oh, Taffioka was the 100**__**th**__** reviewer yesterday so she gets cake. XD *hands cake.* Kep gets a cookie because he actually reviewed. XD And him and lyokodreamer have been reviewing since Times to Remember and Things to Change. Ahh… The memories. XD Don't worry guys, you're going to love Disappearance even if you haven't read Times to Remember. XD The recap sums it all up pretty well, so no need to worry if you haven't read Times to Remember.**_

_** Read and review!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel says good-bye to another story and hello to a new one. X3**_


	29. A Little Note to My Reviewers

_**A Little Note to My Reviewers…**_

_** Alright, so we all know how much you guys have liked: Times to Remember and Things to Change or Darkened Moon or Silence and Insanity or Left Behind. =3 They wouldn't have gotten so many reviews if you hadn't liked 'em, right? So, I'd love it if all of you would check out Disappearance. X3 For those of you who haven't or didn't read its sister fic (Times to Remember and Things to Change) there's a recap for the basic information told by the characters themselves. =D**_

_** I really loved all of your feedback, and if you followed me to each story I'd really love it. X3 You all make my writing worthwhile because I know that people care to read it. X3 One of these days I hope to get out real books and I'll let you all know who I am when I get them written. Maybe. XD My mom's going to help me with that, but that's not the point of this. XD My point is to say that you guys, my reviewers, are amazing and I'd love to see you guys review Disappearance. Each of you have great stories that I've read and reviewed or just read b/c I was too lazy to review. XD**_

_** One last little thing here, in my spare time (which I do have a bit of since I stay up late on school nights…) I'll write request fics. =3 So let me know if you have any. My random one-shots are just ideas that may never make it. XD**_

_** Anyway, going to work on my stories now. XD Hope to hear back from you!**_

_**~MoonlitxAngel**_


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